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J LIBRARY OF CONGRESS.* 

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{ UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, f | 



THE 



TRIUMPH OF FAITH. 



A SEQUEL TO 



"HEAVENLY PLACES," 

BEING 

THE SUBSTANCE OF ADDRESSES ON THE 
BOOK OF JOSHUA. 

BY J 

STEVENSON A. BLACKWOOD, 

AUTHOR OF "HEAVENLY PLACES," ETC. 

WITH AN INTRODUCTION, 

BY 

ROBERT PEARSALL SMITH. 



2 WU 



^Wn^^ 



WILLARD TRACT REPOSITORY, 

NO. 2 BEACON HILL PLACE, BOSTON. 
NO. 239 FOURTH AV., NEW YORK. 

1875. 






COPYRIGHT, BY 

CHARLES CULLIS. 

1875- 



The Library 
of Congress 

washington 



INTRODUCTION. 



The author of this book is a representative man of the 
large class of lay evangelists, two thousand in number in 
Great Britain, it is said, who, aside from any official posi- 
tion, are every where proclaiming the Gospel of the grace 
of God. In streets, lanes, school-houses, halls, chapels, 
and aristocratic drawing-rooms, they are with great sim- 
plicity and earnestness preaching Christ as a present 
Saviour, and with no small success in winning souls. 
Noblemen of high rank, gentlemen of ease, bankers, 
merchants, tradesmen, even converted chimney sweeps, 
each first to his own class in life, and then to those 
beyond, are preaching the good news. 

Once the leader of fashion in the court circles of Lon- 
don, the author of this book has become a leader in 
teaching not only grace, but its practical results of sepa- 
ration from the world. His influential social position, 
his unusual personal powers of attraction, his eloquence, 
and above all, his genuine consecration and deep humili- 
ty, have given him a commanding influence. With 
decisive energy he has consecrated this influence to the 
advocacy of the highest standards of practical Christian 

(iii) 



IV INTRODUCTION. 

life and teaching. As the presiding officer of the great 
central conferences of the evangelical portion of the 
Church, held at Mildmay Park, London, he has, with no 
uncertain sound, preached the responsibility and privi- 
lege of complete surrender to God and full trust in all of 
His promises, as the only true standard of Christian life. 

" The Triumph of Faith " is the great need of churches 
which, but too often, are like battalions of defeated 
soldiers, dreading, and even expecting continued failure. 
Paul was able to say, "Thanks be unto God which 
always causeih us to triumph in Christ, " and his secret 
lies in the words, "This is the victory that overcometh 
the world, even our faith." While the children of Israel 
were in the place of unbelief, — the Scripture repeatedly 
calls the wilderness "the provocation," — they were con- 
stantly being defeated ; but when they crossed into the 
promised land, in the courage of faith , they took the vic- 
torious position. They learned to shout before the battle 
was fought, and l ' The Triumph of Faith " was in their 
own hearts before it was completed in the contest. 

As long as Joshua lived, it was a career of uniform vic- 
tory, so that on his death he was able to say to them, 
"Ye know in all your hearts, and in all your souls, that 
not one thing hath failed of all the good things which the 
Lord your God spake concerning you ; all are come to 
pass unto you, and not one thing hath failed thereof. " 

Joshua died, and then Israel departed from God and 
failed. But his great anti-type, Jesus, liveth forever. 
Trusting Him we shall never fail. 

Many who have long been content to look upon a 
life of ailure and weariness, typified by the wilderness 



INTRODUCTION. V 

experience of Israel, as their inevitable condition in this 
life, are now beginning to realize that Jordan does not 
mean death, nor Canaan heaven. It was a grievous sin 
in Israel that they did not go into their inheritance at 
Kadesh Barnea, at once after they had passed the Red 
Sea. It is no sin in us that we do not go to heaven at 
once on conversion. We look for things in heaven far 
better than were ever found in Canaan with all its con- 
flicts and ever rising enemies. 

Alas ! that while so many take the distinctive name of 
1 ' Believers/' so few are found to be believing believers in 
"the exceeding great and precious promises" of God, 
so that they ' ' might be partakers of the Divine nature, 
having escaped the corruption that is in the w r orld through 
lust" 

We cordially commend this cheering, hopeful presen- 
tation of the available, practical privileges of faith, as a 
most serviceable contribution to the rapidly extending 
line of teaching as to the available possessions of the 
believer. 

R. p. s. 



^c((((@^5^®)))>»»' 



CONTENTS. 



CHAPTER I. 

APPROPRIATION BY FAITH. 

The good land given— Must be claimed — God's promises 
blank cheques — Forty years instead of eleven days — 
Lessons of the wilderness — Coming short of the rest — 
Language of unbelief — End of the doubters — Faith in 
action — Peter on the water — A bird in the air — Faith's 
standpoint — Do not wait for feelings — The secret of 
victory — Trust for pardon, ...... 

CHAPTER II. 

THE OBEDIENCE OF FAITH. 

Justification by faith does not lead to sin — Believers in Christ 
dead to sin — Saved from power as well as penalty — The 
law a rule of life — Four arguments — No service of God 
until we are saved — Law only given then— A happy, 
holy, continuous service — In God's presence — Bonds 
loosed — Lazarus — The madman of Gadara — Brought 
into Canaan to keep the law -Cannot keep it in the 
wilderness — Must cross Jordan — Teaching of New Testa- 
ment — The ten commandments repealed — The royal 
law — "The perfect law of liberty" — The example of 
Jesus— A life of obedience to the law — The law estab- 
lished, • • 



CONTENTS. 
• CHAPTER III. 

THE NOURISHMENT OF FAITH. 

PAGE 

Not saved by obedience — But blessings of the saved depend 
on obedience — The will of God declared in His Word — 
The Word must be retained — " Fowls of the air " — Word 
written that it may be remembered — Job's wish granted 
— Must be meditated upon — Digestion of food — Other- 
wise injurious — " Gospel hardened " — Cause of weakness 
— Blessedness of meditation — No bondage — Must be 
obeyed — All that is written — Promises of prosperity 
given by Moses — Elihu — Isaiah — Jesus — Instances, . 45 

CHAPTER IV. 

THE WARFARE OF FAITH. 

Position of Israel on borders of the land — Coming short of 
the rest — Double aspect of Jericho — Stronghold of Satan 
in the world — " High things " in believers' hearts — 
Jericho a pleasant spot — Usurped — To be attacked and 
won for God — But strictly guarded — Character of Chris- 
tian warfare — Power of the enemy — " Seven nations" 
should be recognised — The purpose and the promise — 
The purpose : — Expulsion of evil — " Cast out devils" — 
Nothing less — The promise -Victory given beforehand 
— Jehovah and Jericho — Triumphs of Paul — The Lord 
on our side — "The priwce of this world judged" — "Be 
strong" — "More than conquerors," .... 69 

CHAPTER V. 

THE TRIUMPH OF FAITH. 

God uses means — Human instrumentality not for salvation 
— Christ the only ; ' means of grace " — But for service — 
Workers with God — God's plan of work — The ark 
lifted up — Christ exalted — Blowing of the trumpets — 



CONTENTS. 

PAGE 

Preaching of the Gospel — Curious procession — Order of 
attack — Feelings of dwellers in Jericho — Seventh 
trumpet — "The foolish things of the world" — In- 
stances — " The preaching of the Cross " — Shook the 
world — The daily walk — Work in faith — Walk in faith 
— Shout in faith — Work in patience — Seven days — Be 
not discouraged — Delays not denials — Abraham's pa- 
tience — "In due season" — The inward warfare, . . 96 

CHAPTER VI. 

DESTRUCTION WITHOUT FAITH. 

Further teaching in Jericho — They " believed not " — Noto- 
rious sinners — In spite of long-suffering — In spite of 
judgment — Four hundred years — Rumours of coming 
judgment — Of escape of Israel — Miracle of Red Sea — 
Terror of Canaanites — Passage of Jordan — Faith of 
devils — Enmity to the spies — Confidence in their own 
works — Sudden destruction — A complete picture — The 
lost perish because of their sins — Notwithstanding 
mercy — In spite of knowledge — Because convictions are 
stifled — They trust in themselves — In their religion — 
"The best I can" — They perish "without remedy " — 
"The last trump," 127 

CHAPTER VII. 

SAVED BY FAITH. 

One family in Jericho saved — The "scarlet cord" — " Rahab 
the harlot" — Was a sinner — Salvation for the lost — 
" This Man receiveth sinners " — She gave herself up — 
The only way — David — Isaiah — The publican — The 
prodigal — Joshua the high priest — She heard about 
God — Took the way of salvation — Did not stifle her 
convictions — Rahab' s lie — Not content with feelings — 
Must have certainty— Obtained it — The two-fold token 



CONTENTS. 

PAOB 

— The blood of Christ seen by God — The only mark — 
Apparently insignificant — The Word of God the token 
to the believer — The ground of assurance — The links in 
the chain — Cannot break — " God would lose His charac- 
ter " — Salvation received at once — " A more convenient 
season " — Trust now, 159 

CHAPTER VIII. 

THE WORKS OF FAITH. 

Rahab saved by faith only — Raised to glory — " The genera- 
tion of Jesus Christ " — The grace of God — Place of good 
works — Teaching of Paul and James — Not contradictory 
— But supplementary — Rahab's works — Her treatment 
o God's servants — Her faith proved by her works — 
"Faith made perfect" — " Abraham justified by works" 
— Two ways in which faith is manifested — By self-sacri- 
fice, as with Abraham — By love of the brethren, as 
with Rahab — Experience of believers — One family — 
Paul — The jailer at Philippi — Concern for salvation of 
others — First thought — Rahab's relations — All saved — 
Instances — Natural love — Abraham's desire — Moses' cry 
— Paul's prayer — Conclusion, ..... 189 



APPROPRIATION BY FAITH. 

" Every place that the sole of your foot shall tread 
upon, that have I given unto you, as I said unto 
Moses." — Joshua i. 3. 

The land was given to the Israelites ; but to be 
enjoyed, it must be appropriated. Unless their 
feet trod its soil, it was useless to them. Every 
inch that they claimed became their own ; un- 
claimed, its value could not be realised. 

And it is just so with regard to the " spiritual 
blessings in heavenly places in Christ," which " are 
freely given us of God." We must claim them if 
we want to enjoy them ; unclaimed, they are like 
a possession which its owner never visits — an 
accumulation of treasure which the hand never 
touches. Many complain of want of realisation 
of peace and joy, liberty and power. The secret of 
their dearth of soul lies in this — that they do not 
step out upon the promises in childlike simplicity 

A 



Z APPROPRIATION BY FAITH. 

of faith — they do not claim and accept what God 
has already given them ; and thus, while " kings' 
sons/' they are " lean from day to day." 

What an " exceedingly great and precious pro- 
mise " is that which stands at the head of this 
chapter ! It extends and deepens and heightens 
and widens as we look at it. It seems, we might 
almost say, were it not God's blessed word, too 
good to be true. Is it, can it be possible, that the 
extent of realisation is only limited by the extent 
of our faith ? — that God only stops giving when we 
stop receiving ? — that everything the hand of faith 
touches becomes its own? — that vast possessions yet 
unexplored, boundless as the fulness of God, are 
placed at our disposal, and only await our grasp ? 
Yes, blessed be His holy name, it is so; He 
giveth liberally, He giveth royally, He giveth 
divinely. He saith, " It is more blessed to give;" 
and, as He is the source, centre, and sum of all 
blessedness, He " waiteth to be gracious." He 
spreads before us an heavenly Canaan, full of 
" precious things of heaven, of the dew, and of the 
deep that coucheth beneath, and of the precious 
fruits brought forth by the sun, and of the precious 
things put forth by the moon, and of the chief 
things of the ancient mountains, and of the 
precious things of the lasting hills, and of the 
precious things of the earth, and fulness thereof, 
and of the good-will of Him that dwelt in the 
bush"(Deut. xxxiii. 13-16). He bids us appro- 



APPROPRIATION BY FAITH. 3 

priate them. He puts, as has been said, a blank 
cheque-book into the hands of His people, telling 
us that the treasures in His vaults are inexhaustible, 
and bids us fill in the amount we want, and sign 
our names. 

Sign our names, did I say? Yet not so. The 
name in which we are authorised to draw upon the 
divine treasury is already signed — it is the name 
of JESUS ; the promises are " payable to bearer : " 
faith presents them. The draft must be honoured, 
for it is the promise of " God, that cannot lie; " 
and the word is fulfilled, " Whatsoever ye shall 
ask the Father in my name, He will give it you." 

Old and New Testaments agree that this is the 
secret of realisation of blessing, this the principle 
of joyful success, — appropriation by faith. The first 
volume of G-od's book says, " Every place that the 
sole of your foot shall tread upon, that have I given 
unto you " (Josh. i. 3). The second volume says, 
" According unto your faith, be it unto you " 
(Matt. ix. 29). 

Let us then dwell for a short time on this 
glorious promise, recalling the circumstances under 
which it was given,* and endeavouring to under- 
stand its application to ourselves, for whose 
learning it was written aforetime (Rom. xv. 4). 

* The opening chapters of the book of Joshua have formed the 
subject of a previous volume (" Heavenly Places "), in which the 
death of Moses, the transfer of leadership to Joshua, the passage of 
the Jordan, the burial of the twelve stones in its bed, the erection 



4 APPROPRIATION BY FAITH. 

Although uttered on the wilderness side of 
Jordan, the promise had reference mainly to the 
other side, the land flowing with milk and honey, 
which was to be the dwelling-place of the people 
of God, and the scene of the manifestation of His 
glory. It was spoken on the eve of their passage 
through the Jordan, and regarded them as already 
in the land of Canaan. 

The people had now been for forty years pilgrims 
in the wilderness, and the faithless generation that 
had refused to go up at the bidding of the Lord 
from Kadeshbarnea had all died out. Only Caleb 
and Joshua remained of the men of war. The 
believing men lived still, but only they ; for faith 
alone inherits the promises. 

How fearful were the consequences of the un- 
belief manifested at Kadeshbarnea! (Num. xiv.) 
What disappointment and sorrow it brought upon 
the people ! Forty weary years were occupied in a 
journey which, we learn from Deut. i. 2, 3, need 
only have taken eleven days — years that are 
described afterwards as u the provocation, the day 

of the other twelve stones in the land, the second circumcision, the 
passover in the plains of Jericho, the exchange of corn for manna, 
and the assumption of command by the angel of the Lord, are 
used to illustrate the death of the believer to the law, his burial 
with and resurrection in Christ, together with the consequences 
that result from these facts, and the steps that precede his con- 
quest and enjoyment of the land of promise here below. I shall 
therefore only recur to the scenes there described, and the lessons 
they teach, so far as may be necessary for the completeness of the 
subject of the present volume. 



APPROPRIATION BY FAITH. 

of temptation in the wilderness," and of which it 
is said in the same place by God, " Forty years 
long was I grieved with this generation " (Ps. 
xcv. 8, 10). 

Might not these forty years have been spared? 
Was the weary wandering in " that great and ter- 
rible wilderness, wherein were fiery serpents and 
scorpions and drought, where there was no water," 
absolutely necessary? Was it God's purpose when 
He brought the people out of Egypt, to keep them 
in such a place for forty years ? To all this we 
must answer, Nay. God " brought them out " 
that He might " bring them m" to the land (Exod. 
vi. 6, 8). The journeying to and fro without 
making any progress, the hunger and the thirst, 
were brought upon the people by their own un- 
belief. True, those forty years were used by God t 
to teach them wondrous lessons. Israel learned 
much concerning themselves and much concerning 
God, that their dull hearts could have learned in 
no other way. Their own utter inability to keep 
His commandments, their obstinacy, pride, and 
perverseness, were all brought out to the full ; they 
were humbled, and taught their dependence upon 
God ; and at the same time they learned the mar- 
vellous grace and love and wisdom and power 
of Him who " suffered their manners in the wil- 
derness," " forsook them not," " fed them accord- 
ing to the integrity of His heart, and guided 
them with the skilfnluess of His hand" (Ps. 



6 APPEOPKIATION BY FAITH. 

lxxviii. 72). Lessons to be remembered for ever 
were taught them there ; for they were bidden to 
" remember all the way which the Lord thy God 
led thee these forty years in the wilderness, to 
humble thee, and to prove thee, to know what was 
in thine heart, whether thou wouldest keep His 
commandments, or no. And He humbled thee, 
and suffered thee to hunger, and fed thee with 
manna, which thou knewest not, neither did thy 
fathers know ; that He might make thee know that 
man doth not live by bread only, but by every word 
that proceedeth out of the mouth of the Lord doth 
man live" (Deut. viii. 2, 3). But it was their unbe- 
lief and obstinacy that made this painful instruc- 
tion necessary. The deliverance at the Red Sea, 
the sweetening of the waters at Marah, the supply of 
the manna near Elim, and of the waters at Re- 
phidim, should have sufficed to teach, had they had. 
the grace to learn them, all the lessons which the 
wilderness-pilgrimage alone availed to burn into 
their minds. 

But at length the painful discipline was over, 
every doubting one had perished in the wilderness. 
Unbelief had, for a time at least, died out, and the 
nation approached the land of promise an army 
of believers. By faith they pass through Jordan, 
there are no shrinkings and doubtings; and under 
the leadership of Joshua they stand prepared to 
enter upon possession of the " glorious land." 

But now, with the Jordan behind them and the 



APPKOPRIATION BY FAITH. 7 

wilderness lost sight of, they are reminded that all 
their enjoyment of the land depends on the con- 
tinued exercise of that faith which had at length 
been put forth. The land was occupied by mighty 
enemies, who had held undisputed possession. for 
hundreds of years. Giants were among them, and 
their cities were " walled up to heaven." How 
were they to be dispossessed ? By the faith of 
Israel. They only had to tread upon the land to 
make the spot thus touched their own. Trust in 
God must be exercised; they must step personally 
in the strength of faith upon the land that owned 
another's sway, and each step made the territory 
thus claimed their own. 

If they had shrunk from this exercise of faith, 
if questionings, reasonings, doubtings, had been 
allowed to keep them back, not an inch would 
have been theirs, and the land which was given 
to them by Jehovah would have yielded them no 
enjoyment. It was only by a bold yet simple 
trust that they could realise the blessings in store 
for them, and become the joyful possessors of the 
portion that God had in store for them. 

The application of all this to ourselves is simple. 
The unbelief which arises in the heart when on 
the very verge of the rest and enjoyment of 
all the promises, the consequent weary wander- 
ings, failures, and discipline entailed, are, alas ! 
facts which few, if any, have been unacquainted 
with. Is it not true with many a reader of these 



8 APPROPRIATION BY FAITH. 

pages, that although on the first apprehension of 
deliverance from condemnation by faith in the 
precious blood of Christ, and of further deliverance 
by the same Almighty Saviour, from the power of 
the # world which hindered our progress, the song 
which Israel sang on the shore of the Red Sea has 
found its echo in our hearts, and that while utter- 
ing its triumphant tones we thought not of defeat 
or failure, but saw all future obstacles melting 
away, and ourselves entering with joy upon the 
inheritance of peace provided for us, these songs 
of praise were ere long exchanged for cries of un- 
belief and fear, as one trial of faith after another 
was permitted to come upon us ? 

Murmurings and reproaches have often filled the 
hearts, if they have not escaped the lips, of those who, 
in the first burst of spiritual joy, trusted God fully 
to do as much for them in the future as He had done 
in the past. And though each fresh exhibition of 
impatience and distrust has called forth fresh 
manifestations of the forbearance and power and 
grace of God, His goodness has not quelled their 
unbelief, nor shamed them into faith. 

And then at last, when they have stood within 
full view of all the " spiritual blessings in heavenly 
places " which have been provided for them, when 
some savour of the goodness of the land of pro- 
mise has reached them, and they have actually 
handled and tasted its rich fruit, unbelief has 
again risen up, as giants and walls were thought 



APPROPRIATION BY FAITH. 9 

upon and magnified — yes, magnified; for unbelief 
ever exaggerates difficulties, and makes them out 
far greater than they really are. 

How strikingly this appears from the account 
given by the spies of the obstacles in the land. 
They said the sons of Anak were so great that they 
themselves were but " as grasshoppers in their 
sight," and that the cities were 4i walled up to 
heaven." What gross exaggerations ! For the 
Israelites to be as grasshoppers compared with the 
sons of Anak, the latter would need to have been 
fifty times as tall as they really were ; and as for 
the cities being walled up to heaven, the statement 
was, on the very face of it, absurd. But the trem- 
bling spies said so in their wretched unbelief, and 
craven, doubting Israel took up the cry. And so 
it always is. To unbelief difficulties seem always 
much greater than they really are, for it leaves 
God out of sight, who is alone the true standard 
whereby to measure all things; whereas faith, com- 
paring the giants with Jehovah, and the high 
walls with the omnipotence of heaven, thinks 
nothing of the obstacles, and steadfastly pursues 
its way. 

And what has been the consequence ? Years, 
it may be, of wilderness life — backwards and for- 
wards, but no real progress ; occasional mountings 
into a higher atmosphere, but as frequent relapses 
into the mists of doubt; the failures more nume- 
rous than the victories ; the presence of the " ser- 



10 APPROPRIATION BY FAITH. 

pents " and the " scorpions," and the unsatisfied 
longing in the land wherein there is " no water." 
May not the life of many a Christian be described 
in these words ? They have not realised the bles- 
sedness they saw before them, and their experience 
is fitly described in the words of the well-known 
hymn : — 

" Where is the blessedness I knew 
When first I saw the Lord ? 
Where is the soul-refreshing view 
Of Jesus and His word ? 

" What peaceful hours I once enjoyed ! 
How sweet their memory still ! 
But they have left an aching void 
The world can never fill." 

Of course it cannot ; the wilderness never can be, 
and was never meant to be, the portion of Israel; 
and the life to which it corresponds was never 
meant to be the life of the children of the Lord 
God Almighty. The world can never fill the heart 
which has once realised peace with God, and 
tasted, however slightly, of the fulness of joy 
which is in His presence. 

A wilderness life can never be a happy life ; 
and yet many Christians have ceased to expect 
anything better. True, in one sense we are in the 
wilderness as long as we are in this world ; for we 
must be dependent on the perpetual supplies of 
grace, be guided by the pillar of the Lord's pre- 
sence, and be ever travelling. But though this 



APPROPRIATION BY FAITH. 11 

is one aspect of the position of the believer, it is 
not the only one. In another he is regarded as 
being already in the promised land, " blessed with 
all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ " 
— the land where he may win constant victories, and 
while fighting, yet know what " rest in the Lord " 
means. And it is this which is the normal, the 
proper position of every Christian. If he has to 
pass through the wilderness, he need not be forty 
years about it. Eleven days was the necessary 
time, and the long years of failure, disappoint- 
ment, and backsliding are attributable to unbelief 
alone. They are not necessary. They may be 
avoided. Nay, they ought to be avoided; for the 
apostle, after bringing before us the fearful con- 
sequences of doubt in the case of the Israelites, 
" whose carcases fell in the wilderness/' says, "Let 
us' labour " (literally, hasten^ i.e., not be forty years 
about it instead of eleven days) "to enter into 
that rest, lest any man fall after the same example 
of unbelief " (Heb. iv. 11). Israel's failure is 
recorded for our warning, not for our imitation ; 
to be avoided, not copied. 

And yet can we not see, who are conscious that 
for long years, it may be, we have omitted to pro- 
fit by their history, how a gracious God has used 
the years of wandering to teach us, as He taught 
them, lessons, which we might have learnt in an 
easier school had we not doubted, but which He 
has not failed in His patient care for His children 



12 APPROPRIATION BY FAITH. 

to bring home to us in another way ? He has in- 
deed dealt with us as sons ; not forsaking us in our 
backslidings, but graciously correcting us, that 
" we might be partakers of His holiness," and 
learn at length to " enter into His rest," and to 
dwell, even here below, in the good land, in the 
kingdom of u righteousness, peace, and joy in the 
Holy Ghost," 

And, as at last with Israel, the men of war in 
whom they trusted all died out from among them 
(Deut. ii. 14), and the generation that believed 
not fell in the wilderness one by one ; so at length 
it comes, with some at least, that all their strength, 
the flesh in which they trusted, comes to an end, 
and the last vestige of that unbelief which feared 
the difficulties and doubted God's power to overcome 
them, dies away. 

Then once more we stand upon the borders 'of 
the land of blessing, no longer trembling and 
doubting, but believing that God will bring us in, 
and realising that we have died, been buried, and 
raised with Christ (as typified by the passage 
through Jordan). We see the lovely prospect before 
us, the plains flowing with milk and honey, the 
vineyards and the cornfields, and though here and 
there we also see tremendous obstacles, " all the 
power of the enemy," we hear the divine voice 
saying unto us, " Every place that the sole of 
your foot shall tread upon, that have I given unto 
you, as I said unto Moses " (Josh. i. 3). 



APPROPRIATION BY FAITH. 13 

The land must be appropriated by faith. Id no 
other way could the natural Israel obtain pos- 
session of the earthly Canaan ; in no other way 
can the spiritual Israel " inherit the promises. " 
Faith would have sufficed forty years before. 
Faith alone is needed now. 

But it must be faith in action. It would not 
have been of any use for the people to have ad- 
mired the land and heard the promise, and to have 
said that they believed it ; they would have been 
no richer as to enjoyment, as to actual possession, 
than if they had remained in Egypt. They must, 
in simple trust on Him who spake the word, step 
forward, plant their feet on the soil, and that very 
moment it became their own. . Neither will an 
inactive faith avail you, reader. Indeed, there is 
no such thing as an inactive faith. There is, it is 
true, such an intellectual assent to the reality of 
certain facts as devils are obliged to give — " Thou 
believest that there is one God, thou doest well : 
the devils also believe and tremble ; but wilt thou 
know, vain man, that faith without works 
is dead ? " A faith whose possessor never moves, 
acts, works, is a nonentity, a dead, a diabolical 
faith. It is of no use. It encashes none of 
heaven's cheques ; it wins no victories ; it brings 
no peace. 

True, living trust steps forward; it turns promises 
into possessions; it claims their fulfilment, and is 
not disappointed. Look at Peter. He is bid — and 



14 APPROPRIATION BY FAITH. 

Christ's commands are promises — to walk on water. 
He trusts, steps out on the yielding liquid, and it 
becomes firm as the rock under his tread. Again 
he doubts ; and as he doubts the water gives way, 
and he begins to sink. God's promises always 
sustain a trusting, never a doubting soul. What 
is the secret of floating on the water ? Quiet trust. 
Use your own strength, move by your own power, 
and the body sinks to some extent. Trust the 
element entirely, and you may lie upon its sur- 
face. 

How strange it must seem to a bird the first time 
it commits itself to an invisible element through 
which the law of gravitation would apparently cause 
it to fall to destruction; but the open wings claim- 
ing support from the atmosphere are not deceived, 
and it floats on thin air. So is it when the soul 
casts itself upon the promises of an invisible Grod. 
Creatures without wings, if they could reason, 
would deem it suicidal folly of the bird to throw 
itself out of its nest, trusting to that which it 
could not see ; and to a world without faith the 
ventures of a believing man are the actions of a 
madman. But they are not so ; " underneath are 
the everlasting arms," the " exceeding great and 
precious promises " — empty sounds to him that 
doubts, are as mighty powers in the world of faith 
as is the atmosphere in the world of nature, and 
they never fail to sustain the soul that ventures 
out helplessly and wholly upon them. Trust alone 



APPROPRIATION BY FAITH. 15 

is needed, and every step of trust acquires foothold, 
and gains strength and encouragement to take 
another. 

And then how unlimited the promise — " every 
place." Yet what were the places? There may 
have been unoccupied spots, and plains in which 
no armies stood to contest the invader ; but 
if there were, on the other hand, Jericho and 
Ai, Libnah and Makkedah, Hazar and Hebron, 
with their kings, their armies, and their giants, 
were ready for the battle. Were these included in 
the promise ? Yes ; " every place." — " There 
shall no man be able to stand before you." — " One 
of you shall chase a thousand." — " I have given 
you the land." 

The number of the enemy, the height of the 
walls, the stature of the giants, therefore, mattered 
not : they were not to be taken into calculation. 
Unbelief wished to ascertain whether the inhabi- 
tants of the land were " strong or weak, few or 
many," " what cities they dwelt in, whether in 
tents or in strongholds" (Num. xiii. 18, 19). And 
unbelief, of course, looking at " things seen," came 
to the conclusion, " They are stronger than we" (ver. 
31) ; " all the people we saw in it are men of great 
stature " (ver. 32). But faith has to do with " things 
not seen," with " Him who is invisible," and mea- 
sures not difficulties ; or if it does measure them, 
measures them against the power of God; and 
thus all difficulties are alike small. Strong or 



16 APPROPRIATION BY FAITH. 

weak, few or many, giants or dwarfs, tents or 
strongholds, it is a matter of indifference ; for to 
Him whose power faith uses, the " nations are as 
the small dust of the balance," the u isles" are " as 
a very little thing," and " the inhabitants of the 
earth are as grasshoppers." 

Ah ! yes. If we look at difficulties from God's 
standpoint — and this is faith's proper standpoint — 
they become very small. Did we meet a man of 
Goliath's height in the street, his stature might 
indeed appal, for, seen from our own level, we 
should have to look up at him ; but if we mounted 
to the top of St Paul's, and thence beheld him, 
we should see no difference between the giant and 
the man of ordinary size. Thus is it when we look 
down upon difficulties from the heavenly places 
where we are privileged to stand with God. The 
objects which, seen from our own level, threaten to 
crush us, seen from His level, looked at by faith, 
dwindle into insignificance ; and we are ready to 
say, " If God be for us, who can be against 
us?" 

We may and must have many difficulties in our 
way; the world, the flesh, and the devil — those 
three sons of Anak that oppose the onward progress 
of every soldier of Christ — will certainly oppose us 
also, and our own resolutions, skill, or courage are 
no match for the mighty power arrayed against us. 
And yet onward progress is not only commanded, 
but the secret of its attainment is revealed— -faith 



APPROPRIATION BY FAITH. 17 

in the promises of an unchangeable, an omnipotent 
God. ' 

It is by these, "the exceeding great and precious 
promises," that we " become partakers of the divine 
nature," — not so much in its commencement, for 
the new, the divine life is begun in us the moment 
we, by the grace of God, trust in the Lord Jesus 
as our own Saviour, but in its growth, development, 
realisation, and enjoyment. Do we see a goodly 
land "of righteousness, peace, and joy in the Holy 
Ghost" spread before us — a blessed experience of 
rest, satisfaction, and victory — described in the 
Word as that which is part of the "things prepared 
by God for them that love Him?" Are we conscious, 
at the same time, that there are mighty powers 
within us and without us barring the w^ay and 
contesting, as old inhabitants of the land, our 
right to such a glorious inheritance ? And do we 
not hear, at the same time, a divine voice saying 
to us, "Only believe!" — "Every place that the 
sole of your foot shall tread upon, that have I 
given unto you, as I said unto Moses?" "This 
is the victory that overcometh the world, even our 
faith." 

Yes ; the secret of progress is faith — the child- 
like trust of a perfectly helpless one in the power, 
will, and love of Him who is " mighty to save" 
Taking Him at His word, the enemies melt away, 
the difficulties vanish, the clouds disperse ; faith, 
clinging to the promise of an invisible One, steps 

B 



18 APPROPRIATION BY FAITH. 

out upon the good land, and by that very act 
of venture possesses that which it grasps. It does 
not wait to feel strong before it acts, but moves 
onward, and is not disappointed : where it seemed 
there was nothing but yielding water, there is a 
pavement firm as the rock ; the touch of faith turns 
promises into realities — 

" Laughs at impossibilities, 
And cries, It shall be done." 

We are not to wait for feelings, for the evidence 
of sense, before we believe ; those who thus wait, 
fearing to move forward till some inward experience 
corroborates the promise, must wait in vain ; the 
good land will not approach them : they must claim 
it in the venture of faith, and according to their 
faith so will it be unto them. To sense it may seem 
a leap in the dark — the desperation of credulity — 
but to the child that knows its Father's voice, 
though the Father be Himself unseen, it is no 
such thing — it is a reasonable trust. 

How apparently unreasonable was the conduct 
of that man who, after taking a journey to Christ 
in order to induce Him to return with him and 
heal his dying son, went home again without Him, 
without so much as a prescription, with nothing 
but a bare word, " Thy son liveth ! " He had 
nothing to confirm his faith, but he " believed the 
word that Jesus had spoken unto him, and he went 
his way." And he was not disappointed. " At the 
self-same hour the fever left him." He rested his 



APPROPRIATION BY FAITH. 19 

hopes and his happiness on the word of the Lord, 
and the blessing was his. 

This, then, is the secret of the victory, whether it 
be over the powers that withstand us in the world, 
over the corruptions within us that seem so invin- 
cible, or over the devil, — trust in the promise and 
power of God. The trust is nothing in itself, there 
is neither merit nor strength in it, but it clings in 
helplessness to an almighty One, and thus " obtains 
promises," " subdues kingdoms," " waxes valiant 
in fight," and " turns to flight the armies of the 
aliens," while God on whom it leans gets all the 
glory. 

Learn then, believer in the Lord Jesus Christ, to 
be indeed a believer — not one who " staggers at 
the promises of God ,; because of their very great- 
ness, who refuses to go up into the good land 
though it lies at his feet, because of the power 
of the inward and outward enemies. Your circum- 
stances, your temperament, your passions may be 
all against you, and, looking upon them, you may 
have felt inclined to despair of ever getting any- 
thing more than a wilderness life of failures and 
defeats, falls and humiliations, dissatisfaction and 
disappointments. Doubt no longer. He who 
cannot lie saith, " Behold, I give you power to 
tread on serpents and scorpions, and over all the 
power of the enemy" 

Can anything be wider than this? Can you 
want more? The " shield of faith" is still able 



20 APPROPRIATION BY FAITH. 

to " quench all the fiery darts of the wicked;" and 
though the " imaginations " and the " high things 
that exalt themselves against the knowledge of 
God," within and without you, are indeed " strong- 
holds," the " weapons " of your warfare are "mighty 
through God" to "pull them down," and to " bring 
into captivity every thought to the obedience of 
Christ." " Every place that the sole of your foot 
shall tread upon, that have I given unto you." 

And you, dear reader, to whom this text in 
its primary and fullest sense does not apply, who 
are not only not on the borders of the promised 
land, but who are still under the bondage of sin, 
with its unforgiven weight resting on your con- 
science ; though the promise, in its strictest sense, 
relates to those who are forgiven and saved, and 
who are seeking to attain the realisation and 
enjoyment of the good land which the Lord has 
prepared for His people, the principle on which it 
is based is one that applies equally to all. It is 
this : — Claim in faith what you need, and it is 
yours ; in other words, " What things soever ye 
desire when ye pray, believe that ye receive them, 
and ye shall have them." 

What is it, then, you want ? Are you unforgiven, 
needing pardon for a past life of sin and God- 
forgetfalness ? There are promises for you : 
" Though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as 
white as snow." Grasp the promise. Let the 
sole of your foot tread — not to trample on, but to 



APPROPRIATION BY FAITH. 21 

claim, that blessed place in the kingdom of God — 
the first standing-point in the life of God — the for- 
giveness of sins. You repeat, it may be, week after 
week, the words, " I believe in the forgiveness of 
sin." And are you yet unforgiven? Why are you 
so? Because you have believed in it as a theory, not 
grasped it as a fact for yourself. You have seen 
the good land — perhaps beheld others walking in 
it; you have assented intellectually to the plan 
of salvation, but you have not made it your own ; 
you have not laid hold of eternal life — you have 
not trusted in the Lord Jesus Christ for j r ourself. 

Then let this be the moment for claiming for 
yourself the pardon which lies before you, waiting 
your acceptance. It is ready for you ; — Christ has 
died, the blood has been shed, the atonement made 
and accepted. God " waiteth to be gracious." 
Grasp by faith the promise, so full and free, of 
pardon and salvation, and it is yours, never to be 
taken away from you. More, infinitely more, may 
lie before you to be subsequently realised. But this 
is the beginning ; and as you press onward towards 
the enjoyment of " all the fulness of the blessings 
of the gospel of Christ," you will find that the 
means by which you obtained the first blessing of 
pardon and life everlasting is the means by which all 
the further gifts of God are realised : " According 
unto jour faith be it unto you." " Every place that 
the sole of your foot shall tread upon, that have 
I given unto you." 



II. 

THE OBEDIENCE OF FAITH. 

" Only be thou strong, and very courageous, that thou \ 
may est observe to do according to all the law i 
which Moses my servant commanded thee : turn 
not from it to the right hand or to the left, that 
thou may est prosper whithersoever thou goest" 
— Joshua i. 7. 

" Do we then make void, the law through faith ? God 
forbid: yea, we establish the law." — Romans 
iii. 31. 

The objection which many have made to the free- 
ness of salvation by faith only, without the works 
of the law, — that it leads to carelessness and sin, is 
no new one. It is as old as St Paul's time, and is 
conclusively met and refuted by him in the sixth 
chapter of the Epistle to the Romans, where he 
shows that, as dead men do not go on living in a 
world with which their connection has been broken 
by death, so it is impossible that men who have 
died and been buried with Christ, and whose con- 
nection with and subjection to sin has thus been 
severed, can go on living in that to which they 



THE OBEDIENCE OF FALTH. 23 

have died. " How shall we that have died to sin 
live any longer therein? " 

This is conclusive argument, based on reason and 
common sense, and is indeed sufficient. But the 
temple of truth is supported by many buttresses, 
and it is incumbent on us to notice all the pillars 
by which God has been pleased to sustain the 
glorious edifice. We are to " tell the towers 
thereof, and mark well her bulwarks;" and the 
more we do so, the more shall we see how firm and 
stable are her walls, how beautiful and harmonious 
are her proportions. 

It is, then, not only manifest from the fact of 
union with Christ in His death, burial, and resur- 
rection, that to go on living in sin is unnatural 
and monstrous, but also that to walk after the com- 
mandments of God is natural and reasonable, since 
it was one of the purposes for which we have been 
redeemed unto Him. To serve God, i.e., to walk 
in His ways, to "keep His commandments, and to 
do those things that are pleasing in His sight," and 
thus to glorify Him, is, we may say, the great end 
and object for which redemption has been effected ; 
and to continue in sin is to go entirely contrary to 
the purpose which God had in view in our salvation. 
For it is a salvation not only from the penalty, but 
also from the power of sin. Salvation from the 
penalty was necessary before salvation from the 
power could be enjoyed, and salvation from the 
power is the necessary and proper consequence of 



24 THE OBEDIENCE OF FAITH. 

salvation from the penalty. The one is the com- 
plement of the other. The people of God are 
" elect unto obedience" 

It is often argued, on the other hand, that the 
law is no rule of life to the believer; that having 
been delivered from its just penalty by the death 
of Christ, he has nothing to do with it as a code 
of regulations for his conduct; that being "in 
Christ," he is out of the region • of, above and 
beyond the law; and that to walk in Christ, and 
after Christ, is the only rule which he has to 
regard. 

There is something very plausible in this, and it 
is a view which may be supported by many passages 
of Scripture, which, taken alone, would appear to 
justify it ; but it will be seen, I think, on a wider 
and deeper consideration of " all Scripture," that 
such a view is but one-sided, and does not properly 
represent the relation of the believer in Christ to 
the law of God. 

There are many ways in which the truth (for 
such I believe it to be), that the law is given to 
the people of God as their rule of life, could be ex- 
hibited and proved ; but I will confine myself at 
present to the following considerations, which alike 
meet the arguments that deliverance from condem- 
nation leads to carelessness, and that deliverance 
from the condemning power of the law relieves us 
from its ruling power — viz., the object of redemp- 
tion, the purpose of our introduction into " heavenly 



THE OBEDIENCE OF FAITH. 25 

places in Christ," the direct teaching of the New Tes- 
tament, and the example of the Lord Jesus. 

First. The object of redemption. 

Looking at this point in the light which the 
typical history of the children of Israel throws on 
it, we at once see that 6i service to God," that is ? 
obedience to His laws, could not be carried out until 
redemption had been effected, and that it was the end 
for which that redemption was wrought. The very 
first announcement of the salvation that was about 
to be wrought for them was accompanied by an 
intimation of the object in view, " When thou hast 
brought forth the people out of Egypt, ye shall 
serve God upon this mountain " (Exod. iii. 12) ; and 
each reiteration of the command to Pharaoh to 
release Israel from its bondage was followed by 
the words, " That they may serve Me." Seven 
times was the command repeated, u Let My people 
go." There could be no service of God in Egypt. 
Deliverance from its power, and separation from its 
ways, must precede service ; but once delivered 
from the condemnation that fell on Egypt, rescued 
from its power to retain, and separated from con- 
tact with it by the barrier of the Red Sea, service 
to God was to find its proper place. 

No sooner, therefore, were the people fairly 
brought into the wilderness, than the revelation 
of God's will concerning them was made in the 
commandments given on Mount Sinai ; on the 
very mountain on which Moses had been told that 



26 THE OBEDIENCE OF FAITH. 

Israel should serve the Lord, the "ten words " 
were proclaimed which contained the whole law ; 
and the close connection between redemption and 
obedience was manifested in the opening utterance 
from the Mount, " I am the Lord thy God, which 
brought thee out of the land of Egypt, out of 
the house of bondage : thou shalt have no other 
gods before me" 

And this precisely foreshadowed the intimate 
connection which exists between our redemption 
from wrath whilst the slaves of sin, and the obe- 
dience to Him who delivered us which is meant to 
be the consequence of that redemption. I need refer 
but to one or two passages of Scripture as exhibit- 
ing this truth in the clearest possible manner. 

In the prophecy uttered by Zacharias, the father 
of John the Baptist, we find him describing the 
promised salvation in these terms — " That we should 
be saved from our enemies, and from the hands of 
all that hate us ; that we, being delivered out of 
the hand of our enemies, might serve Him without 
fear, in holiness and righteousness before Him, all 
the days of our life" (Luke i. 71, 74, 75). What 
does this show — a statement inspired by the Holy 
Ghost — but that, as deliverance must be the indis- 
pensable prelude to service, so a happy, holy, and 
continuous service in the presence of God our 
Saviour is the proper consequence of the deliver- 
ance? — happy , because " without fear" (for " fear 
hath torment, but perfect love casteth out fear ") ; 



THE OBEDIENCE OF FAITH. 27 

holy, because " in holiness and righteousness ; " 
continuous^ because "all the days of oar life; " in 
His presence, because " before Him." 

How different is this from the bondage of a 
religion which hopes ultimately to attain to salva- 
tion by means of service ! There is no happiness 
in that, for the soul that is endeavouring to estab 
lish its own righteousness by the works of the law 
is conscious that it is not yet free from condemna- 
tion ; the burden of unforgiven sin still lies heavy, 
forebodings of wrath still terrify it ; it has no 
peace, for " fear hath torment." There is no holi- 
ness in such service, for holy service can only be 
the fruit of the working of the Holy Spirit of God 
in the heart, of which He is the welcome and abid- 
ing guest; and He dwells in no heart that has not 
trusted in Jesus for the forgiveness of sins and 
acceptance with God. There is no continuity in 
such service ; there are fitful, constrained, weari- 
some efforts to do the will of God, coupled with 
frequent falling back and the depressing sense of 
failure. Such a life resembles more the occasional 
flow of water from a pipe to which it must be 
brought by hard manual labour, laboriously pumped 
up, than the ceaseless, steady, onward rolling of 
the river, the source of which is not human energy, 
but the mighty power of the Holy Ghost. Such 
service is not in the presence of God. The delight 
of that presence, the "fulness of joy" which is 
there, is unknown to it ; it seeks to obtain entrance 



28 THE OBEDIENCE OF FAITH. 

by its efforts, and instead of serving " before Him," 
wearies itself with endeavours to find the way. 

No ; it is only when Jesus is trusted in, His 
great salvation received, and deliverance appro- 
priated by faith, that true happy service to God 
begins. Such service is not the cause, but the con- 
sequence of salvation. It is, to quote the words of 
Zacharias once more, when il knowledge of salvation " 
is " given" to us u by the remission of our sins" 
that our " feet are guided into the way of peace." 

The same truth is expressed by David in the 
most concise manner possible in the 116th Psalm, 
verse 16th, u Lord, truly I am Thy servant; I 
am Thy servant, and the son of Thine handmaid: 
Thou hast loosed my bonds." What ! bonds loosed 
and yet a servant? Yes, truly ; and only a servant 
when the bonds have been loosed — and a servant 
for the very reason that they have been loosed ; 
for it is only when the fetters of sin are broken 
that we are free to enter into the service of another 
master; or, as the same inspired writer describes in 
another place, " I will run the way of Thy com- 
mandments, when Thou shalt enlarge my heart " — 
i.e., as the Prayer-Book version has it, " When Thou 
hast set my heart at liberty." 

Can there be any other natural consequence of 
liberty than thefiee use and action of the liberated 
powers? If conscience, mind, heart, and will, all 
enslaved by sin, are freed by the redeeming blood 
of Christ from the weight of guilt, the fear of 



THE OBEDIENCE OF FAITH. 29 

judgment, the power of the world, and the love of 
sin, must they not " seek the things that are 
above ? " What could result, what was intended 
to result, from the removal of the grave-clothes 
that chained the tongue and bound the hands and 
feet of the quickened Lazarus, but the free use of 
those members which had been petrified by death — 
the tongue to tell His praises who had given him 
life, the hands to do Him service, the feet to run 
the way of His commandments ? Truly, he also 
could say, " Lord, I am Thy servant; Thou hast 
loosed my bonds." 

Let such as argue that the conscious possession 
of a new and an eternal life, and the knowledge of 
acceptance with God, tend to carelessness and sin, 
consider whether the breath of life breathed into 
him afresh, the rejoicing glow of restored vitality, 
the fresh air of heaven, and the presence of the 
Saviour Himself, were likely to lead Lazarus to 
seek the darkness and corruption of the tomb 
again; or whether the possession of a right mind 
by him who had been the self-destroying slave of a 
legion of devils (Mark v.) was likely to lead such 
an one again to dwell among tombs and to cut 
himself with stones? The very idea is absurd, 
and the fact that it ever could enter into the 
conception of rational beings, only shows how 
true it is that " the god of this world hath 
blinded the minds of them that believe not." 
The Word of God, who cannot lie, tells us that, 



30 THE OBEDIENCE OF FAITH. 

" being made free from sin, we become the servants 
of righteousness." 

But, once again, let us notice the object of 
redemption as given in Rom. viii. 1, 4. In that 
well-known passage the apostle, after stating in 
the first verse the soul-rejoicing fact, that " there 
is therefore now no condemnation to them which 
are in Christ Jesus," and showing, in the second, 
that the freedom from condemnation (the con- 
sequence of the law of sin and death) is the result 
of the operation of the new law or principle of the 
" Spirit of life in Christ Jesus," proceeds to ex- 
plain, in the third verse, the manner in which this 
freedom from condemnation has been effected — viz., 
by the condemnation having taken effect on the 
Son of God, who, coming " in the likeness of sinful 
flesh, and for sin," became the sinner's substitute, 
and bore his penalty. He then goes on to describe 
the object for which this substitution took place — 
and what is it? That we might live " after the 
flesh " — that we might, now that the penalty of the 
law had been borne, treat lightly its requirements 
as to holiness? No; u that the righteousness of 
the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not after 
the flesh, but after the Spirit" 

The proper consequence, then, of death under the 
penalty of the law is death to the power of sin; the 
natural result of life in the Spirit is a walk accord- 
ing to the Spirit — a fulfilling of the requirements of 
that law which is love to God and love to man. 



THE OBEDIENCE OF FAITH. 31 

The object of redemption is the glory of God in 
the life of the redeemed, and that can only be by 
keeping His commandments. 

Again, our introduction into " heavenly places 
in Christ" is for the same purpose, and this we 
once more learn from the careful consideration of 
the history of Israel. 

As it was the fact that no service to God could 
be carried out in Egypt, so also it appears that 
even in the wilderness their service must necessarily 
be very defective. True, the commandments were 
given there, and the complete directions for their 
life were minutely laid down there. Their service 
also commenced there, but it was only in the land 
of promise that those directions could be executed 
in their integrity : and we accordingly find that 
the Book nf Deuteronomy, which contains the 
manual of their service, again and again refers to 
the land as the scene in which the commandments 
of God were to be fully obeyed. 

This is expressly stated, amongst other passages, 
in Deut. xii. 1, where we read thus, — "These are 
the statutes and judgments which ye shall observe 
to do in the land which the Lord God of thy fathers 
giveth thee to possess it ;" and the obedient and 
law-keeping condition which was to characterise 
•their dwelling in the land is contrasted with the 
comparatively lawless and irregular habits of their 
life in the wilderness, since we read in the 8th and 
9th verses — " Ye shall not do after all the things 



32 THE OBEDIENCE OF FAITH. 

that we do here this day, every man whatsoever is 
right in his own eyes. For ye are not as yet come 
to the rest and to the inheritance which the Lord 
your God giveth you." 

No less than between twenty or thirty times in 
that book is it specially mentioned that the com- 
mandments have reference to their conduct " in 
the land whither they go to possess it," and it is 
no less evident from the nature of the regulations 
in Deuteronomy, and also in Leviticus, that by far 
the greater portion of them could only be attended 
to and obeyed in the land itself. Since, therefore, 
as we have already seen, service to God was the 
object of their redemption out of Egypt, and that 
service could only be executed in the laud of pro- 
mise, it is manifest that to render such obedience 
to the laws of God possible was the object of their 
introduction into that land. 

But this appears in a still clearer light from the 
typical character of the position of Israel in the 
land of promise as compared with their previous 
condition. Viewed as the appointed type of the 
family of God — the earthly foreshadowing of the 
heavenly reality — we may briefly say that their 
history in its various stages exhibits the different 
positions in which the individual believer or the 
Church at large is placed, and the successive phases 
of experience through which they pass. 

Thus Israel, a slave in Egypt, exposed to con- 
demnation, represents the sinner — the servant of 



THE OBEDIENCE OF FAITH. 33 

sin and of the world, and under the wrath of God ; 
sheltered under the blood of the Lamb, we see the 
consequence of trust in the blood of Christ, namely, 
salvation from judgment; separated from Egypt 
by the Red Sea, with the Egyptians dead on the 
sea-shore, we see the saved people separated from 
the world by the death of Christ, and the world 
consequently dead to them. Wandering in the 
wilderness, humbled, chastened, yet graciously and 
miraculously accompanied, sustained, protected, and 
guided by God himself, we have vividly before us 
the ups and downs, the falls and discouragements 
of the generality of the people of God, and at the 
same time the judgment and mercy of a faithful 
and long-suffering Redeemer. Lastly, in Israel 
passing through Jordan by faith in the power of 
God, — as manifested in the ark standing in its bed 
to keep back the overwhelming stream, — in the 
burial of the twelve stones in the river, and the 
erection of the other twelve in Gilgal, we see pour- 
trayed the blessed fact, which is true concerning 
every believer in Christ though not equally under- 
stood and realised by all in their own experience, 
that each member of the redeemed family is united 
to Christ in His death, burial, and resurrection, 
and by faith in Him leaves judgment behind, and 
enters upon the possession of " all spiritual bless- 
ings in heavenly places in Christ." 

It was only when Israel reached this stage in their 
history that they were in a position fully to serve 

o 



34 THE OBEDIENCE OF FAITH. 

God and to keep His commandments. Moses must 
die, and Joshua arise, before they could enter the land 
and obey the directions given for their life there. 

And so it is only when we in our experience see 
that we are " dead to the law by the body of 
Christ," and are " married to Him that is raised 
from the dead/' — in other words, that we have ex- 
changed Moses for Jesus, salvation by the works of 
the law for salvation by the work of Christ, that 
we are in a position to bring forth fruit unto God. 
It is doubtless for this reason that, as before re- 
marked, the apostle brings no precepts to bear 
upon the Ephesian and Colossian believers until 
he has fully explained to them their position as 
dead, buried, and risen with Christ. The first half 
of each of those epistles is occupied with the exhi- 
bition and elucidation of that wondrous truth, and 
then the latter half follows with its practical 
teaching. And it will be noticed that in hardly 
any part of the New Testament do such minute 
directions for the everyday earthly life of Chris- 
tians occur, as in those two epistles which, beyond 
all others, set forth the heavenly position of the 
believer in its most exalted character. 

To what conclusion, then, does all this lead us ? 
Why, to this, that obedience to the commandments 
of God, service to Him, the regulation of our con- 
duct by His laws, and the performance of every, 
even the smallest, duty with a view to His glory, is 
the proper result and consequence of entrance upon 



THE OBEDIENCE OF FAITH. 35 

the enjoyment of all those " spiritual blessings in 
Christ" which are typified by the richness of 
earthly blessings in Canaan; and, therefore, that 
God's purpose in uniting us to Himself in Christ, 
and bringing us into the marvellous possession of 
such unsearchable riches, is not that we may live in 
carelessness or independence of His rule, but that, 
on the contrary, it is with the spiritual as it was with 
the natural Israel, " He brought forth His people 
with joy, and His chosen with gladness ; and gave 
them the lands of the heathen ; and they inherited 
the labour of the people ; that they might observe 
His statutes, and keep His laws" 

Israel had no life in Egypt until saved by the 
grace of God; its childhood commenced then 
(" when Israel was a child, then I loved him, and 
called my son out of Egypt," Hos. xi. 1), and was, 
so to speak, educated in the wilderness ; and upon 
the completion of that education the people arrived 
at maturity and entered upon possession of their 
inheritance. The natural result of life, education, 
and manhood was then to follow — namely, the 
conduct and actions of manhood ; but such result 
could not take place before. So also, we, "when 
we were children were in bondage," but being re- 
deemed, pass under the chastening and educating 
hand of the Father of Spirits,* in order that at 
last, " no more children tossed to and fro with 

* Of course in another sense the education of the believer is 
never completed ; man is always learning to the end of his life, and 
the people of God will through time and eternity be ever learning 
to know God, 



36 THE OBEDIENCE OF FAITH. 

every wind of doctrine," we should walk worthy of 
the vocation whereunto we are called as men in 
Christ, matured and strong, fulfilling the end for 
which we were created and redeemed — that is, 
glorifying God by obedience to His will. 

Indeed, true, intelligent, hearty, joyful obedience 
is impossible until trust in a living Saviour, with 
whom we are one by faith, is exercised. As the 
unbelieving generation died out before Jordan was 
crossed, so unbelief must cease before we can enter 
into " the rest which remaineth for the people of 
God," in order thus to " walk worthy of Him unto 
all pleasing." 

Let us now see how far the direct teaching of the 
New Testament justifies the assertion that the law, 
though shorn of its condemning power on the be- 
liever by reason of his having already undergone its 
sentence, death, is nevertheless the rule of his life. 

In speaking of the law, I do not, of course, refer 
to that portion of it known as the ceremonial law — 
viz., that which had to do with washings, sacrifices, 
feasts, days, seasons, and such like. That was essen- 
tially Jewish, and passed away with all its shadows 
when the reality to which it pointed was come. 
The u meat," and " drink," and " holy days," and 
" new moons," and " Sabbath-days," were, we are 
told, " a shadow of things to come ; but the body 
(i.e., the substance) is of Christ" (Col. ii. 16, 17). 
Such things were but " carnal ordinances, imposed 
until the time of reformation," and were no longer 
needed when Christ the " High Priest of the good 



THE OBEDIENCE OF FAITH. 37 

things (that were) to come " had been manifested. 
(Heb. ix. 10, 11). 

But I speak of that law known as the moral 
law, which had not to do with mere outward cere- 
monies, but which, though given to Israel in ten 
commandments, was really embodied in two — the 
love of God and the love of our neighbour ; and it 
is important to observe that each of those ten 
commandments is more or less explicitly re-enacted 
under the Christian dispensation. This may be 
seen upon a very cursory review. 

The first commandment, to worship only God, is 
expressly made use of by our Lord in that strange 
conflict with Satan, which is the representation of 
the fight which we as disciples have to wage ; 
and we surely are not so above our Master that we 
can afford to dispense with the weapon which He 
wielded in that strife. 

The second, to abstain from idolatry, is directly 
enjoined on Christians no less than four times 
(1 Cor. x. 14; Eph. v. 5; Col. iii. 5; and 1 
John v. 21), besides many other passages in which 
it is inferentially conveyed. 

The third, to reverence the name of the Lord, and 
consequently to abstain from all careless and pro- 
fane language, is amplified by Christ in the Sermon 
on the Mount (Matt. v. 33-37), and by the apostles 
in such passages as Col. iii. 8 and James v. 12. 

The fourth, to keep holy the Sabbath-day, may at 
first sight appear to be omitted in the New Testa- 



38 THE OBEDIENCE OF FAITH. 

ment, and such an expression as that quoted from 
Col. ii. 16 might appear to justify the assertion of 
many, that obedience to it is not incumbent on 
Christians. But the teaching of our Lord on that 
subject must be carefully weighed before such a 
conclusion can be arrived at. If His words about 
that day, and His miracles on that day, be examined, 
it will be found, I believe, that though He delivered 
it from the burdensome traditions with which the 
Jews had encumbered it, and showed what its true 
purpose was, He in no way abolished the Sabbath. 
He, on the contrary, asserted its relation, not 
merely to Jews but to mankind, when He said, 
" The Sabbath was made for man^ and showed by 
His own example, the most potent of all teaching, 
what might be done on that day. The Sabbath 
had, no doubt, an aspect which was essentially 
Jewish ; of that He divested it. But the Sabbath 
was before the law ; it existed in Eden, may be 
traced in patriarchal times, was observed previous 
to the enunciation of the fourth commandment 
(Exod. xvi. 23, 25, 26, 29, 30), and like the other 
institution of Eden, marriage, was to survive 
when the shadows of the law had passed away. 

The fifth commandment, enjoining reverence to 
parents, is re-enacted in the very words uttered on 
Sinai, in Eph. vi. 2, 3, and applied to Christians. 

Is it necessary to refer at length to the passages 
in the New Testament which contain the remaining 
commandments ? 



THE OBEDIENCE OF FAITH. 39 

Is not the sixth, against murder, enlarged by our 
Lord in Matt. v. 21, and by St. John, in 1st epistle, 
iii. 15? Does not the seventh, against unclean- 
ness, obtain a far deeper significance when we read 
Matt. v. 27, 28 and Eph. v. 3-5 ? 

Is not the eighth, " Thou shalt not steal," ex- 
pressly stated in the words, " Let him that stole 
steal no more" (Eph. iv. 28); the ninth, to bear 
no false witness, in James iv. 11 and 1 Peter ii. 1 ; 
and the tenth, in the exhortations against cove- 
tousness, in Eph. v. 3 and Col. iii. 5 ? 

We thus find that every single commandment of 
the ten is repeated more or less explicitly in the 
New Testament, conclusively showing that our Lord 
and His apostles at least regarded it as containing 
those precepts which were to rule and regulate the 
Christian life ; and lest we should have any doubt 
about it, the Lord Jesus sums up the whole "law and 
the prophets " in the two great commandments — 
love to God and our neighbour (Matt. xxii. 37-40 ; 
and St Paul similarly teaches that " love is the 
fulfilling of the law " (Pom. xiii. 8-10). 

The Apostle James, moreover, quoting the Scrip- 
ture, " Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself," 
calls it " the Royal law " — says that we Christians 
shall " do well" if we fulfil it ; and bids us " look 
into the perfect law of liberty and continue there- 
in," and so to speak and so to do, as they who shall 
be judged thereby (James i. 25; ii. 8, 12). 

It has been sometimes argued that the law is 



40 THE OBEDIENCE OF FAITH. 

merely negative and prohibitory, and that as the 
Christian life is to be not only an abstaining from 
evil, but a performance of good> such a law is 
insufficient and defective. But in the last two 
instances quoted, both our Lord and St Paul show 
that the law is not merely negative, prohibiting 
evil, but positive, enjoining love, and that obedi- 
ence to the positive injunction carries with it 
naturally abstention from the evil which is pro- 
hibited. 

Once again, it has been contended that since, 
as stated by St Paul in 1 Tim. i. 9, " the law is 
not made for a righteous man, but for the law- 
less and disobedient, for the ungodly and sin- 
ners," &c, &c, it can have no bearing on, or 
application to, those who, being justified, are no 
longer " ungodly and sinners, " but righteous and 
" saints in Christ Jesus. " It should be noticed, 
however, that the same passage observes that the 
" law is good ; " and since there remaineth even 
in the righteous, and in the saint, the inbred sin 
and carnal mind which clings naturally to all evil, 
there is surely much necessity that such a weapon 
as the law, which reveals sin in its exceeding sin- 
fulness, and slays it (Rom. vii. 7, 11-13), should 
not be laid aside in the constant warfare which 
the regenerate man wages against sin, but rather 
be perpetually used. 

Surely none are so advanced in holiness as to 
be able to sav that a " thou shalt not " has no 



THE OBEDIENCE OF FAITH. 41 

restraining power, no salutary effect, upon their 
consciences and hearts and lives. The powerless- 
ness of the law lay not in its nature, for it is " spiri- 
tual, holy, just, good" (Rom. vii. 11, 14), but in the 
fact that it had to work in and on a flesh wherein 
" dwells no good thing " (comp. Rom. viii. 3, vii. 
18), which is naturally not subject to the law, 
but enmity against it (Rom. viii. 7). When, 
therefore, a new principle is imparted, even " the 
spirit of life in Christ Jesus," and that Spirit of 
God, who is omnipotent, dwells in the heart, then 
surely the fulfilling of the law is not only right, 
but possible ; and the experience of the apostle 
becomes the proper and normal experience of every 
child of God, " With the mind I myself serve the 
law of God " (Rom. vii. 25). Then is he not above 
and beyond the law as a rule of life, " but under 
the law to Christ" (1 Cor. ix. 21). Then is ful- 
filled the blessed and glorious promise of the new 
covenant, " I will put my laws into their mind, 
and write them in their hearts " (Heb. viii. 10). 

Yes, surely. The law in its condemning power 
has vanished for the believer in Jesus, in its cere- 
monial observances it has passed away for the 
Christian ; but in its spirituality, holiness, justice, 
and truth, it is still the rule of life to the children 
of God. " Brethren, I write no new command- 
ment unto you, but an old commandment, which 
ye had from the beginning : the old command- 
ment is the word which ve have heard from the 



42 THE OBEDIENCE OF FAITH. 

beginning " (1 John ii. 7). It is the old com- 
mandment, with a new light upon it, not of 
burning, terrifying Sinai, but of glorious and at- 
tractive Calvary, with the might of the constraining 
love of Christ, instead of the fear of punishment, 
and hope of reward, as its energising power. " For 
this is love, that we walk after His commandments \* 
(2 John 6.) 

Lastly, and briefly, the example of the Lord 
Jesus himself teaches us the same truth, — that the 
Christian life is one of obedience to the law. 

What was His life from the manger to the 
cross ? Was it not one of love ? Did He not 
love God u with all His heart, and all His soul, 
and all His strength " ? Did He not love His 
neighbour as Himself? And " love is the ful- 
filling of the law." On these two commandments 
hang, He said, "all the law and the prophets." 
Then " all the law " was kept by Him. How did 
He regard that law " under which " He was made ? 
(Gal. iv. 4.) He did not regard it as a string of 
commandments which a " righteous man " need 
not obey ; but He said of it, " Thy law is 
within my heart " (Ps. xl. 8, compared with Heb. 
x. 7). He used it in his mysterious conflict with 
Satan, every answer to the tempter being quoted 
from Deuteronomy, every arrow being drawn out 
of the quiver of the law. 

Indeed, " He magnified the law, and made it 
honourable" (Isa. xlii. 21). He came " not to 



1 THE OBEDIENCE OF FAITH. 43 

destroy the law, but to fulfil" (Matt, v. 17). He 
obeyed it, as the second Adam, in His life ; He 
vindicated it — purified it from Jewish traditions, 
which had made " the commandments of God of 
none effect." He re-enacted it, and explained its 
deep spirituality, its exceeding breadth (Ps. cxix. 
96), in. that Sermon on the Mount which de- 
clared its requirements. He added a fresh glory 
to it- when He closed that marvellous summary 
and exposition of its teaching by characterising 
" these sayings of mine " (Matt. vii. 24-26) as 
" the will of my Father which is in heaven " (verse 
21) ; and then He yielded that final subjection to it 
and acknowledgment of its authority when, as the 
representative of sinners, He came " in the likeness 
of sinful flesh," and one with them as partaker of 
flesh and blood, He bare their sins in His own 
body on the tree, and died that death which the 
law inflicted as the last penalty of sin. 

That crowning act of obedience to the law the 
believer, it is true, can never perform ; nor is it 
needful. " Christ has redeemed us from the curse 
of the law." He died for us. We cannot, need 
not, undergo its penalty. He has borne it in our 
stead, and we are, by faith in and union with Him, 
beyond the reach of its condemnation. But " He 
has left us an example that we should follow His 
steps," and we shall search in vain to find a higher 
tone, a deeper spirituality, than that of His most 
blessed life. That life was one of obedience to 



44 THE OBEDIENCE OF FAITH. 

the law as " given by Moses." The most perfect, 
the only spotless, life lived on this earth was 
" under the law." Beyond this we cannot get. 
As He said, " I have kept my Father's command- 
ments, and abide in His love " (John xv. 10) ; 
and u I do always those things that please Him " 
(John viii. 29) ; so we also, if we wish to abide 
in His love (and this is almost the closing word 
of the New Testament, Jude 21), are to " keep 
His commandments," in order that like Him, 
and like His beloved apostle, we may be able to 
say, " We keep His commandments, and do those 
things that are pleasing in His sight.'' Angelic 
perfection is not ours on earth, yet " angels that 
excel in strength do His commandments, hearken- 
ing to the voice of His word \\ and we may be 
well content to occupy a similar position, and also 
do His commandments. 

Thus, in conclusion, we find that to " observe to 
do all the law which Moses commanded " is the 
object of redemption, the purpose of our introduc- 
tions into " heavenly places in Christ;" that the 
word with which the Old Testament closes is still 
needful for the people of God — - u Remember ye the 
law of Moses, my servant, which I commanded unto 
him in Horeb for all Israel, with the statutes and 
judgments " (Mai. iv. 4) ; and that so far from 
making " the law void through faith," the apostolic 
rejoinder is still true, " God forbid : yea, we esta 
blish the law " (Rom. iii. 31). 



III. 

THE NOURISHMENT OF FAITH. 

u This book of the law shall not depart out of thy 
mouth ; but thou shalt meditate therein day and 
night, that thou may est observe to do according 
to all that is written therein: for then thou shalt 
make thy way prosperous, and then thou shalt 
have good success." — Joshua i. 8. 

The prosperity and success of Joshua as the leader 
of the people depended, then, upon the manner in 
which he retained, meditated upon, and obeyed all 
that was " written in the book of the law;" and 
the same rule applied to all Israel. Yet neither 
did they become the people of God, nor did they 
inherit the land as the result and cosequence or 
reward of their obedience to the law. The in- 
heritance was either the reward of law-keeping, or 
the giftof free grace ; and the declaration of God that 
it was on the latter terms, and not on the former, 
that Israel obtained it is clear, " For if the inherit- 
ance be of the law, it is no more of promise : for 
God gave it to Abraham by promise " (Gal. iii. 18.) 



46 THE NOURISHMENT OF FAITH. 

They were redeemed, saved, and adopted, before 
even the law was given, and so far from entrance 
into the land being conditional upon keeping the 
law, it was, as we have seen, only when they were 
in the land that they were in a position to obey its 
precepts. At the same time, once they were in 
the country, their success over their enemies, and 
their continued enjoyment of the rich blessings of 
the land, were conditional upon their close adher- 
ence to all that was written. 

The application of this to ourselves is simple. 
It is not by the works of the law, by obedience, 
good deeds, emotions, feelings, or anything that 
springs out of or is connected with himself that the 
sinner is justified and saved. " We conclude, that a 
man is justified by faith without thedeeds of thelaw" 
(Rom. iii. 28). " By grace are ye saved through 
faith ; and that not of yourselves : it is the gift of 
God ; not of works, lest any man should boast " 
(Eph. ii. 8, 9). We must have life before we can 
obey, even to the slightest extent, any one of the 
precepts of the Lord. God gives not His law to 
dead men, or rather, if He does, it is to show that 
they are legally, morally, and spiritually dead, 
and are utterly unable to keep those command- 
ments which the fact of their death proves them to 
have broken. God gives life to the dead; and in 
the hearts and minds of His living children He 
writes His laws. 

And similarly, our introduction into, and in- 



THE NOURISHMENT OF FAITH. 47 

heritance of " all spiritual blessings in heavenly 
places in Christ " are not the reward of obedience, 
but the indispensable preliminaries to obedience, 
since it is only when by faith we have been united 
to Him, and are thus brought " into the kingdom 
of God's dear Son," that we are in a position or 
have the power to walk after His commandments. 

Once, however, redeemed, saved, and adopted 
in Christ, success, prosperity, and continued enjoy- 
ment of blessing, depend upon the extent to which 
we retain, meditate upon, and are governed by that 
law which, powerless to save the lost, and equally 
powerless to condemn the saved, is yet the rule of 
life to those who are " not after the flesh, but after 
the spirit." Obedience to the commandments is then 
no longer bondage, but freedom. For the law is 
the "royal law of liberty" " His commandments 
are not grievous " any more. For with our whole 
soul we H consent unto the law that it is good." 
As the requirements of a tender father, as the 
wishes of a devoted husband, are law to the loving 
children or to the attached wife, and are yet not 
irksome, because of love, so is the "yoke easy and 
the burden light " when " reconciled to God by the 
death of His Son," "made nigh by the blood of 
Christ," and " married unto Him that is raised 
from the dead," the will of God is accepted as that 
which it is our joy to coincide with and to obey. 

The expression of that will, however, is contained 
in His word, and though salvation is not condi- 



48 THE NOURISHMENT OF FAITH. 

tional on obedience, our prosperity, success, and 
realisation of the good things of the kingdom de- 
pend on our treatment of, and adherence to, " all 
that is written." We may accordingly take this 
command as directing us to read, mark, learn, 
and inwardly digest all holy Scripture, with a view 
to carrying out its precepts in our lives, and real- 
ising the blessing attached thereto, since " in the 
keeping of God's commandments there is great re- 
ward." Without, therefore, returning to the question 
which has been discussed in the preceding chapter, 
concerning that portion of God's word known as the 
Mosaic law and its application to Christians, let 
us look at the command before us as having 
reference to all " God's word written," since u all 
Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is 
profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, 
for instruction in righteousness ; that the man of 
God may be perfect, thoroughly furnished unto all 
good works" (2 Tim. iii. 16, 17). In the admo- 
nition given to Joshua, then, we may notice the 
duties enjoined — retention, meditation, obedience ; 
and the blessing promised — prosperity and success. 
Retention. — It is evident that this is needful. 
The word of God must be remembered and re- 
tained, if it is to be meditated upon and obeyed; 
and so important is this first stage of its treat- 
ment by those w T ho hear it, that the destroyer 
is ever on the watch to prevent its being carried 
out. " When any one heareth the word of the 



THE NOURISHMENT OF FAITH. 49 

kingdom, and understandeth it not, then cometh 
the wicked one, and catcheth away that which was 
sown in his heart." Mark says. ** Satan cometh 
immediately;" and Luke describes his object 
as being " lest they should believe, and be 
saved." He knows well the power of the word 
to take root when once it gets below the surface; 
and, therefore, just as the " fowls of the air " are 
ever hovering near to pick up the seed before 
it be covered by the kindly earth, he is waiting 
to take away even from the memory the divine 
truths which we have read outwardly with ou 
eyes, or heard outwardly with our ears, lest they 
should make an impression, and, sinking into 
the heart, become the root of a new life in the 
hearer. 

Is there one reader of these pages who is not 
conscious that, even with his eyes on his Bible, or 
with the words of God sounding in his ears, the 
truths, however solemn and important they may 
have been, have been frequently snatched away by 
wandering thoughts before even the page has been 
turned, or the echo of the voice that spake them 
has died away. Or, if retained for the moment, 
have not the cares of this life, worldly business, 
idle talk, the news otf the day. the sights around 
you, the " many voices'' of this world, dissipated 
the transitory impression made ; so that your 
reading or hearing has been but liek the momen- 
tary glance into a mirror of the man who ' ; be- 

D 



50 THE NOURISHMENT OF FAITH. 

holding his natural face in a glass : for he beholdeth 
himself, and goeth his way, and straightway for- 
getteth what manner of man he was " (James i. 
23, 24). 

Oh, my friend, if every word of God had been 
retained as it first fell upon our ear, or met our 
eye ; if we had been as careful to hold fast and 
treasure up those eternal truths, which are " more 
precious than gold," as we have been to retain and 
use the " uncertain riches" of this world, what 
giants in the faith, what " perfect men, thoroughly 
furnished unto all good works," how " instructed 
unto the kingdom of heaven," how wise to glorify 
God, to avoid evil, to help others, should we have 
been by this time ! That we may be therefore what 
we are not yet, or at the most but very few of us, 
the command comes to us, " This book of the law 
shall not depart out of thy mouth." The expres- 
sion seems to compare the book of the law to food, 
and to teach us that just as food received into the 
mouth is useless unless retained, that merely to 
take it for its pleasant taste and not to swallow it 
is of no value whatever ; so the Word of God is to 
be not only received and tasted but kept within 
us, since "man doth not live by bread alone, but 
by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of 
God doth man live." 

If the Word of God is to work in our hearts, 
strengthen us for His service, produce any effect on 
our lives, it must be first of all received and 



THE NOURISHMENT OF FAITH. 51 

retained. Like the roll given to Ezekiel, and the 
little book to John, the command that accompanies 
it is, "Take it and eat it up:" then, and then 
only, can it be profitable to us, and powerful within 
us. It is w^hen " wisdom entereth in thine heart, 
and knowledge is pleasant unto thy soul, that dis- 
cretion shall preserve thee and understanding shall 
help thee." Therefore, the injunction is reiterated, 
"My son, forget not my law;" — "let thine heart 
retain my words ; " — " take fast hold of instruction ; 
let her not go, for she is thy life ; " — " attend to 
my words, incline thine ear unto my sayings ; let 
them not depart from thine eyes, keep them in the 
midst of thine heart." 

And is it not very gracious of God that to enable 
us to remember and retain His law, He has caused 
it to be written for us, not only that we may 
"know the certainty of the words of truth" (for 
how uncertain and untrustworthy would be tradi- 
tion or mere oral revelation), but that we may be 
able to keep it in remembrance. Thus the power 
of memory and the grasp of mind, whereby we are 
enabled to recollect and hold fast those things that 
need to be remembered and retained — natural 
powers as we may call them, but powers without 
the exercise of which it would be impossible to 
carry on the affairs of daily life — become most ser- 
viceable to the higher life of the soul. 

It is almost impossible to overrate the im- 
portance of knowing by heart the holy Scriptures, 



52 THE NOURISHMENT OF FAITH. 

in order that they may be kept in the heart ; but 
when memory fails, how blessed is it to have that 
written, and, — in spite of all assaults upon it, — 
unchangeable Word of God, "which abideth for 
ever :" and to know that that has been done for us 
with God's words which Job longed might be 
done with his, when he said, " Oh that my words 
were now written ! oh that they were printed in a 
book ! That they were graven with an iron pen and 
lead in the rock for ever ! " (Job xix. 24, 25.) 

Again and again did a merciful God, who knew 
the treacherousness of memory, and the malice of 
infidelity, show the provision which He had made 
against both by means of a written testimony. 
With His own finger did He write the law on the 
tables of stone; and when one set was broken, He 
again " wrote on the tables, according to the first 
writing, the ten commandments." In order that 
His words should be in their hearts He said twice 
subsequently, " Thou shalt write them upon the 
posts of thy house and on thy gates " (Deut. vi. 9 
and xi. 20). He further enjoined that the kings of 
Isarel should, on their coming to the throne, write 
out a copy of the law, adding, " And it shall be 
with him, and he shall read therein all the days of 
his life ; that he may learn to fear the Lord his 
God, to keep all the words of this law, and these 
statutes, to do them" (Deut. xvii. 19). Finally, 
foreseeing the apostasy of Israel, he commanded 
Moses to describe their future conduct in the song 



THE NOURISHMENT OF FAITH, 53 

contained in the 32nd of Deuteronomy, and bade 
him u write the song and teach it the children 
of Israel," and to put it in their mouths, that it 
might be a witness for God against them. 

These instances might be multiplied, but they 
are sufficient to show the steps that G-od has taken 
in order that His people may retain and remember 
His law ; and do they not prove the important 
results that attach to our making a right use of 
that written word, by giving it attention, by seek- 
ing to understand it, and by hiding it in our hearts. 
Therefore He saith, " This book of the law shall 
not depart out of thy mouth." Dear reader, take 
this command, not only as a command but as a 
promise, and then turn it into a prayer, and say 
with David, " Take not the word of truth out of 
my mouth; grant me Thy law graciously " (Ps. 
cxix. 43, 29). To you " this book of the law " is not 
only the pentateuch ; Law, Psalms, Prophets, and 
New Testament, the full and complete revelation 
of the Father's heart and will, the written word 
testifying of the living Word — all, all are yours ! 
Let not sin or Satan, the world or the flesh, 
business or pleasure, cause you to forget its pre- 
cepts, or to relax your grasp of its promises. 
" Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly." 

But the reception and retention of the law of 
God is but a means to an end. Keceived into the 
mind and retained in the memory, it remains un- 
profitable unless it becomes the subject of medita- 



54 THE NOURISHMENT OF FAITH, 

tion. The command therefore follows, " Thou 
shalt meditate therein day and night." 

That is true of divine "knowledge which is true 
of all other kinds of knowledge. If the first step 
towards its acquirement is hearing or reading, and 
the second retention, so the next must be patient 
thought and consideration over what has been 
heard, or, in the word before us, meditation. The 
process by which real benefit is acquired from that 
which we hear is precisely similar to that by 
which we derive profit from the food which we eat. 
Unless digested, and thereby incorporated with 
ourselves, forming thus part of our system, fur- 
nishing in its due proportions nourishment to the 
blood, the brain, the nerves, the muscles, the flesh 
and bones of our bodies, its reception will do us no 
good. Nay, it will harm instead of help. Food 
rapidly swallowed is, if not absolutely and entirely 
hurtful, at any rate comparatively unprofitable; 
and although, perhaps, of some use, injures the 
delicate organs which are concerned in its diges- 
tion. In order that the food of which we partake 
should benefit us to the full extent, there must be 
the quiet and comparatively lengthy, or at least 
leisurely, process of digestion. 

So that word " which proceedeth out of the 
mouth of Grod," — this "book of the law," — must be 
quietly, patiently, prayerfully thought over, con- 
sidered, meditated upon, if it is to be really a 
source of strength to our a inner man," if it is to 



THE NOURISHMENT OF FAITH. 55 

furnish, — as it is intended to furnish, — life to our 
soul, consistency, steadfastness to our Christian 
character. Carelessly received, " in at one ear and 
out at the other," what can it profit us ? Or if 
learnt, as it were, by heart — retained in the 
memory — of what value will it be in forming the 
strength of our life, unless it be made the subject 
of meditation ? It will rather be a source of 
injury, as all things are if not rightly used ; and as 
the greatest gifts, when abused, become most harm- 
ful, so does the truth of God, if only received into 
the ear, or deposited in the memory, become a 
gift which we " wrest to our own destruction," 
unless by prayer and thought it be applied, 
through the power of the Holy Ghost, and by 
means of the intellect which God has given us, 
to our hearts and consciences, and circumstances 
and lives. 

I believe that hardly anything is so prejudicial 
to growth in Christian life, such a hindrance to 
real conversion to God, as the constant hearing of 
the truth of God, without intelligent reception and 
meditation thereon. " Gospel hardened " is a 
phrase we often hear applied to some who 
have had so long the advantage of the faithful 
preaching of the message of salvation that its sound 
has become " familiar in their ears as household 
words," without its becoming powerful to their 
souls as the word of life. And scarcely less 
baneful is the familiarity which real Christians are 



56 THE NOURISHMENT OF FAITH. 

so apt to acquire with the Scriptures from con- 
stantly hearing them, without giving earnest heed 
to that which they hear, and carefully considering it 
with a view to their own guidance in the way of 
the Lord. Sermons are listened to and criticised, 
expositions followed, preachers run after, and in- 
teresting or difficult passages of Scripture dis- 
cussed, without that reverent desire to under- 
stand the will of God, with a view to obeying 
it, for which this word is given to us. Are not 
the words which were used to describe the conduct 
of the Jews with regard to the message delivered 
to them by Ezekiel still strikingly applicable to 
that of ma^y in our day as to their treatment of 
the book of the law? " Thou art unto them as a 
very lovely song of one that hath a pleasant voice, 
and can play well on an instrument: for they hear 
thy words, but they do them not" 

Can such conduct fail to bring its own punish- 
ment with it? What is its legitimate conse- 
quence ? Why, that instead of good " soldiers of 
Christ," there are hundreds who know not how, and 
possess not the courage, to wield the sword of the 
Spirit ; instead of " young men " strong through 
the word of Christ abiding in them, multitudes 
are still helpless babes, needing the milk of the 
first principles of the doctrine of Christ, instead 
of the strong meat which by reason of use they 
ought to be requiring ; instead of " men in Christ " 
" understanding what the will of the Lord is," 



THE NOURISHMENT OF FAITH. 57 

able to teach and strengthen others, numbers are 
"tossed to and fro with every wind of doctrine," 
" ever learning, yet never able to come to the 
knowledge of the truth." 

And the evil does not stop here. If only the 
careless hearers were affected thereby, although 
serious to themselves, the consequences would not 
be so disastrous as they are. It is far more wide- 
spreading. Worldlings are encouraged in their 
worldliness, doubters strengthened in their doubts, 
and downright sceptics gather arguments for their 
scepticism, as they point to the nerveless, gloomy, 
and pusillanimous Christianity of those who are 
constantly hearing messages which they profess to 
believe come from heaven, and which assume to 
convey strength, joy, and courage to the recipient. 

It is impossible to estimate the damage done to 
the cause of Christ, the dishonour brought upon 
His name, the number of weak followers dis- 
couraged, or of opponents strengthened by the re- 
sults, direct and indirect, of the neglect of prayer- 
ful, frequent meditation on " this book of the law." 

But enough of the neglect of meditation. What 
is the advantage of it ? Let the divine description 
of the blessedness of the man whose " delight is 
in the law of the Lord, and who " doth " meditate 
therein day and night," tell us. " He shall be like 
a tree planted by the rivers of water, that bringeth 
forth his fruit in his season : his leaf also shall 
not wither ; and whatsoever he doeth shall pros- 



58 THE NOURISHMENT OF FAITH. 

per." Fruitful in his season— doing the right' 
thing 'in the right time — because " understanding 
what the will of the Lord is ; " unfading in the 
freshness of his life — the evergreen beauty of his 
character, untouched alike by summer's scorching 
suns or winter's frost — because " planted by the 
rivers of water." He is ever deriving fresh 
nourishment from that word which, as it comes 
from the living God, revives wherever it is re- 
ceived ; prospering in whatsoever he doeth, be- 
cause acting only in accordance with the book of 
the law, the blessing of God rests upon all his 
works. Was it not the man who said, " 
how love I thy law ; it is my meditation all the 
day," of whom it is recorded that " he behaved 
himself wisely " (prospered, margin) " in all his 
ways, and the Lord was with him " ? 

There is no bondage in this meditation, as many 
may be inclined to think. What ! say they, are 
we to be always thinking about the Bible, u all 
the day," " day and night "? How irksome, how 
impossible. What is to become of our families, 
our business ? This is the occupation of a recluse, 
of a hermit, not of men who have to attend to the 
necessary duties of life. This sounds plausible, 
but it is the argument of the mind which has no 
taste for God's Word, no relish for the exceeding 
great and precious promises, no love for the " ex- 
cellent things in counsels and knowledge," which 
are written therein. There is nothing irksome in 



THE NOURISHMENT OF FAITH. 59 

eating pleasant food. No sense of constraint in 
reading again and again and pondering each word 
in the letter of one who is loved, no bondage in 
gazing on a lovely scene, or listening to sweet music. 
True, we cannot alwavs be thus engaged, any more 
than we can be always enjoying the pleasures just 
mentioned, but the heart that loves God's law 
will be ever ready to take advantage of opportuni- 
ties to occupy itself therewith ; and when released 
from other necessary things will be like the 
apostles who, " when they were . let go, went to 
their own company." 

The true meditation does not unfit for the busi- 
ness of lawful callings. Was not Joshua a brave 
and successful soldier, David a wise and good 
ruler, Daniel a faithful and eminent statesman ? 
Did their love for and meditation on the book of 
the law interfere with the diligent discharge of 
their earthly duties ? Nay, it rather furnished them 
direction, supplied them with strength, kept their 
minds calm amidst the cares and anxieties of their 
position, and gave them the true object for which 
to do everything — the glory of God. It brought 
them into contact with the spirit, not the letter 
of the law, with the living God who gave it — their 
Saviour, Counsellor, and Friend. 

I cannot do better here than quote the words of 
one (I know not who) who has thus spoken : — 

" The study of God's Word may be concentrated, 
deep, constant, like searching for a vein of gold ; 



60 THE NOURISHMENT OF FAITH. 

and memory may marvellously retain and bring 
forth what study has discovered. But meditation 
is not the discovery of more or of new things, but 
a calm sitting down with God to enrich itself with 
what study has discovered, and feeding with Him 
upon the stores which memory has laid up. 

" Study and memory make the ready and admired 
speaker ; meditation, the sweet, living exhibition 
of Jesus everywhere, whether speaking or silent 
(Jos. i. 8 ; Psalm civ. 34 ;.. cxix. 15). The former 
hunts for something new, when weary of the old ; 
the latter finds renewed life, strength, and refresh- 
ment from the old, which are never old to medi- 
tation. Truths from an infinite, all-wise God, 
they have in them more than the best meditative 
faculty can ever digest," 

Let me ask you who read these pages, How do 
you treat "this book of the law" — these Scrip- 
tures which are given to make you "wise unto 
salvation " and " thoroughly furnished unto every 
good work " ? Do you read it "day and night " ? 
Do you endeavour to keep it in your mind, to hide 
it in your heart? Do you study it prayerfully, re- 
membering that only the divine Author can enable 
you to understand it, and saying with David, 
" Open thou mine eyes, that I may behold won- 
drous things out of Thy law " ? Do you meditate 
therein — with the view of profiting thereby, — for 
the glory of God, for the advancement of your own 
spiritual life and for the edification of others ? 



THE NOURISHMENT OF FAITH. 61 

Or, does the world drive out the word, does the 
daily newspaper receive more attention than the 
messages and words of love from the King of 
kings ? does the gossip and frivolous talk of a 
perishing world efface the impression that the 
hasty morning reading, or the weekly hearing of 
God's Word, has made on your mind ? If so, no 
wonder that you are weak, doubting, overcome of 
evil, inconsistent, and devoid of the joy of the 
Lord. You will never be anything but barren 
and unfruitful as long as you act thus. I beseech 
you to abandon such a course at once, to-day, now. 
Ask the Lord to enable you. Determine to honour 
His Word, to take it as your food, your rule of 
life, your " heritage for ever," and you will find 
that it is indeed with you as with one of old, 
" Thy words were found, and I did eat them ; 
and Thy word was unto me the joy and rejoicing 
of mine heart" (Jer. xv. 16). 

But further, the end for which the retention of, 
and meditation in, the law was enjoined on Joshua 
was obedience thereto. This was to be the practical 
result of remembering and considering the com- 
mandments of God, and it was only when this was 
attained that the former two processes were of any 
use. 

It is needless to dwell here on the importance 
to Joshua as the leader of the people, the general 
of a large army, surrounded as he would be by 
false religion and heathen practices, of thorough 



62 THE NOUKISHMENT OF FAITH. 

acquaintance with the law of God, and of unlimited 
and unhesitating obedience to its precepts. It 
was the only path of safety for himself and his 
nation; the only way in which he could bear testi- 
mony to the holiness and glory of God in the 
midst of idolatry; the only road in which success 
was promised in the gigantic conflict with evil in 
which Israel was about to engage. Obedience was 
the end for which the previous commands, " Re- 
member," " Meditate/' were given. Neither is it 
necessary to recall the substance of the pre- 
vious chapter — viz., that service to God, obedience 
to His commandments, is the object of our redemp- 
tion. That it is the pathway of blessing we shall 
see presently. I would only here dwell briefly on 
two points — that observance of the law is the end 
for which meditation in the law is enjoined, and 
that such observance is meant to extend to " all 
that is written " in the book of the law. 

Just as retention of God's Word in the mind is 
useless without meditation thereon; so meditation 
is unprofitable unless it be followed by obedience. 
The analogy with earthly food still holds good. 
The digestion of the food which I receive is in 
order that it may furnish strength wherewith I 
may perform the necessary duties of life. And 
there is a need that we should bear this in mind. 
It is possible to be much occupied with the 
Scriptures, to search deeply, critically, and to some 
extent devoutly into their meaning, and arrive at 



THE NOURISHMENT OF FAITH. 63 

a perception, more or less clear, of their sense and 
connection, and yet to stop there. My intellect 
may be satisfied with obtaining a correct critical 
exposition, my ingenuity may be rewarded by har- 
monising difficult passages, and my heart receive 
nevertheless no renewal of strength from the 
occupation. I may, moreover, especially if called 
upon by my position to instruct others, think 
much upon Scripture in order to " divide rightly 
the word of truth " to those to whom I should 
minister it. I may feed them therewith, and yet 
my own spirit be unfertilised. 

True, none of these come up to the true meaning 
of meditation, but they niay be easily mistaken for 
it. And having, therefore, experience of this 
danger myself, and feeling it to be a subtle snare, 
I would utter a word of earnest warning to all 
engaged in the work of the Lord, in the honour- 
able and blessed work of feeding others with the 
word of life. Father or mother, pastor or 
evangelist, Sunday-school teacher or city mission- 
ary, let me ask you, are you deriving profit your- 
self from the blessed truths you are constantly 
teaching to others ? Whilst endeavouring to reach 
the consciences, to warm the hearts, and guide the 
lives of others, are you applying to yourself the 
doctrines and exhortations which pass through 
your mind and from your lips to their ears ? Re- 
member Balaam preached Christ without receiving 
Him. Saul, the determined enemy of the man 



64 THE NOURISHMENT OF FAITH. 

after God's own heart, was among the prophets. 
Judas cast out devils, healed the sick, and 
preached the gospel. Whilst there is a glorious 
privilege in having the gospel entrusted to you, 
a privilege angels have not, there is also a tre- 
mendous responsibility. See to it that you medi- 
tate for yourself, that you may observe to do all 
that is written in the book of the law in your own 
life, and bear in mind the words of the great 
Apostle, " I keep under my body, and bring 
it into subjection ; lest that by any means, when 
I have preached to others, I myself should be a 
castaway" (1 Cor. ix. 27). 

Then, again, it is obedience to all that is written 
that is enjoined. Joshua was not to pick and 
choose the commandments that he liked, and to 
slur over those he disliked, or thought inappro- 
priate or extreme. Neither may we. To begin 
to act thus would be to end by rejecting all Scrip- 
ture. We cannot be the judges of what is best. 
The place of children, servants, or soldiers is not to 
question the appropriateness of commands, or to 
select those which please them, but to obey. Some 
particular doctrines may accord more with our own 
feelings than others ; some commands may chime 
in with our wishes more than others : but such 
considerations are not co influence us. The only 
safe, th3 only happy, line is that of David's, " 1 
esteem all thy precepts concerning all things to 
be right " (Ps. cxix. 128). The word of Mary to 



THE NOURISHMENT OF FAITH. 6£ 

the servants at Can a of Galilee is the word for us, 
" Whatsoever He saith unto you, do it." 

Lastly, The consequence of remembering, medi- 
tating in, and obeying the Word of the Lord was 
to be prosperity and success, " Then shalt thou 
make thy way prosperous : then shalt thou have 
good success ;> (margin, " do wisely"). And so 
it is still. Oh, what blessings are promised to 
the obedient child — to the one who seeks to do his 
Father's will in the things which seem smallest, 
as w^ell as in these that seem greatest. How 
full is the Scripture of descriptions of the joy, 
the peace, the prosperity, the success of those who 
walk in the ways of God. 

Listen to Moses — " Therefore shall ye keep all 
the commandments which I command you this day, 
that ye may be strong, and go in and possess the 
land whither ye go to possess it; and that ye may 
prolong your days in the land which the Lord sware 
unto your fathers to give unto them, and to their 
seed, a land that floweth with milk and honey." 
. . . " And it shall come to pass, if ye shall 
hearken diligently unto my commandments, which 
I command you this day, to love the Lord 
your God, and' to serve Him with all your 
heart, and with all your soul; that I will give 
you the rain of your land in his due season, the 
first rain, and the latter rain, that thou mayest 
gather in thy corn, and thy wine, and thine oil. And 
I will send grass in thy fields for thy. cattle, 

E 



66 THE NOURISHMENT OF FAITH. 

that thou mayest eat, and be full." . . . " For if 
ye shall diligently keep all these commandments 
which I command you. to do them, to love the Lord 
your God, to walk in all His ways, and to cleave 
unto Him ; then will the Lord drive out all these 
nations from before you, and ye shall possess 
greater nations and mightier than yourselves. 
Every place whereon the soles of your feet shall 
tread shall be yours : from the wilderness and 
Lebanon, from the river, the river Euphrates, even 
unto the uttermost sea, shall your coast be. There 
shall no man be able to stand before you : for the 
Lord your God shall lay the fear of you, and the 
dread of you, upon all the land that ye shall tread 
upon, as He hath said unto you " (Deut. xi. 8, 
25). 

Listen to Elihu — " If they obey and serve Him, 
they shall spend their days in prosperity, and their 
years in pleasures" (Job. xxxvi. 11). What can 
any desire beyond this ? " Days of prosperity , years 
of pleasures."* Is not this what all seek for ; what 
the poor world toils for, but never finds ? 

Listen to Isaiah — " If ye be willing and obe- 
dient, ye shall eat the good of the land " (Isa. 
i. 19). 

But listen, lastly, not to law or prophets, but to 
the " beloved Son " Himself— " He that hath my 
commandments and keepeth them, he it is that 
loveth me ; and he that loveth me shall be loved of 
my Father, and I will love him, and will manifest 



THE NOURISHMENT OF FAITH. 67 

myself to him." . . . " Jesus answered and said 
unto him, If a man love me, he will keep my 
words : and my Father will love him, and we will 
come unto him, and make our abode with him " 
(Johnxiv. 21, 23). 

Need we more than these? Yet the Bible is 
full of such declarations, and, thank God, there 
have been, and there are many, who can " set 
to their seal that God is true," — that He does 
fulfil what He promises. Not to speak of Abra- 
ham, of Joseph, of David, of Daniel, look at that 
one instance in olden time, Moses, " the man 
of God," that " servant of the Lord," who was 
"faithful in all his house," and of whom it is said, 
no less than twenty-one times, that " he did as the 
Lord commanded." What marvellous communion 
did he not have ! Of him God said, " With him will 
I speak mouth to mouth, even apparently, and not 
in dark speeches ; and the similitude of the Lord 
shall he behold" (Num. xii. 8). Of him it is 
recorded, " And there arose not a prophet since 
in Israel like unto Moses, whom the Lord knew 
face to face" (Deut. xxxiv. 10). 

And have not many in later days so walked in 
" the fear of God all the day long/' that their 
characters, and almost their countenances, have 
shone like Moses', reflecting the glory of God in a 
dark world, and that those who have steadfastly 
looked on them have seen their faces, like Stephen's, 
" as the face of an angel." The vision of an in- 



68 THE NOURISHMENT OF FAITH. 

visible God, — growing likeness to " the God of 
glory," — this is the " prosperity " every true 
Christian heart longs for. Then will he have also 
" good success," for " in the keeping of Thy com- 
mandments is great reward." Therefore, " This 
book of the law shall not depart out of thy mouth; 
but thou shalt meditate therein day and night, 
that thou mayest observe to do according to all 
that is written therein : for then thou shalt make 
thy way prosperous, and then thou shalt have good 
success." 



iy. 

THE WARFARE OF FAITH. 

" Now Jericho was straitly shut up because of the 
children of Israel: none went out, and none 
came in. And the Lord said unto Joshua, 
See, 1 have given into thine hand Jericho, and 
the king thereof, and the mighty men of 
valour" — Joshua vi. 1, 2. 

We have now arrived in our consideration of the 
Book of Joshua, as illustrating the position and 
life of the people of God in the place of blessing 
to which they have been brought through the 
union with the Lord Jesus Christ, at the following 
point. In the first place, we see them brought 
through the otherwise impassable barrier of the 
Jordan, or stream of judgment, by trust in the 
power of God, — as exhibited in the ark of the cove- 
nant, — sustaining the weight of the river until all 
were passed over. The judgment then for ever 
behind them, they come before us, their old life 
and character being buried under its waters as a 
people brought into a new country, which was 



70 THE WARFARE OF FAITH, 

given to them for an inheritance, but which they 
were to appropriate, every inch of it, by the con- 
tinually fresh exercise of faith in Him who pro- 
mised that their enemies should melt away before 
them, and that every bit of the land which they 
claimed should be their own. 

We have further seen that before the land 
could be appropriated and enjoyed, four important 
things were needful — first, the people must be 
separated from every taint of their old life, — the 
" sharp knives " must effect the circumcision which 
had been neglected in the wilderness life, and the 
" reproach of Egypt " be thus " rolled away ; " 
the value and power of blood which saved and re- 
deemed them must be brought vividly to their 
remembrance, — the passover must be kept in the 
plains of Jericho ; the " light food " of the wilder- 
ness must be exchanged for the " strong meat" 
necessary for strength for their conflict, — the manna 
cease, and the "old corn of the land" begin; 
and, lastly, the "armies of the living God" must 
be placed under the leadership and command not 
of Joshua, but of " the captain of the Lord's 
Host." * 

In the preceding chapters of this volume we 
have, moreover, seen the principles upon which the 
spiritual blessings of the land of promise can 
alone be enjoyed ; they must be grasped by faith ; 
the life of the people of God must be regulated 

* This has been unfolded in " Heavenly Places. * 



THE WARFARE OF FAITH. 71 

and governed by that law which, though bereft of 
its power to condemn and slay the believer, is still 
the embodiment and manifestation of the will of 
God as regards the conduct of His children ; and 
that law or word of God must be remembered, 
meditated upon, and obeyed. 

These are, I believe, the unchangeable condi- 
tions on which the " good of the land " can be 
realised. There may be, it is true, many who, 
having been saved by faith in the precious blood 
of Christ, are truly and eternally " in Him," but 
who, by reason of carelessness, lack of faith, in- 
dolence, and, alas ! direct disobedience, fail to 
cohae up to that enjoyment of " the fulness of the 
blessings of the gospel of Christ," which is the 
portion of all the family of God. They are like 
Israelites who were in the land of promise, but 
who either knew not its treasures, or cared not to 
explore them, or who shrank from that thorough 
obedience to the will of God, which was the only 
condition on which they could realise to the full 
the marvellous promises of earthly prosperity which 
were held out to them. 

Such " come short" of the rest; they win no 
victories, they enjoy no peace ; their life corre- 
sponds not to the ideal, but true life promised to 
the faithful servant of God ; they soon fall under 
"the power of the world, whether typified by Egypt 
or Babylon; and though, since " all Israel shall be 
saved," they may indeed finally not utterly perish, 



72 - THE WARFARE OF FAITH. 

it is a salvation " so as by fire ; " an entering into 
life " maimed," not that abundant entrance pro- 
mised to those who "go from strength to strength; " 
who, having " clean hands, wax stronger and 
stronger," daily grasping fresh promises, daily win- 
ning new victories^ and who at last hear the blessed 
words, u Well done, good and faithful servant, 
enter thou into the joy of thy Lord." 

With such half-hearted, slothful followers, the 
portion of the book now under consideration is, 
with the exception of a short passage (which may 
perhaps be subsequently noticed), not concerned. 
Their character, conduct, and position is, I be- 
lieve, exhibited in the " Reubenites, Gadites, and 
half tribe of Manasseh," referred to in the 1st 
chapter and 12th and following verses. 

Our subject now is the onward progress and 
glorious victory of faith, and we have there- 
fore before us, at the commencement of the 6th 
chapter, the people of God on the eve of pos- 
sessing and enjoying the rich provision that lay 
before them, but confronted at the same moment 
with a tremendous obstacle. Jericho, strongly 
fortified, occupied by an enemy determined to 
resist Israel to the very utmost, stood in their 
way. Let us consider the teaching conveyed to 
us herein, taking the city of Jericho as the type of 
that which, though garrisoned by the enemies of 
God, is yet to become part of the inheritance of the 
Lord, and the army of Israel, as exhibiting the 



THE WARFARE OF FAITH. 73 

attitude of those whom God sends forth to fight 
His battles and to subdue His enemies. 

There are two aspects under which Jericho may- 
be regarded, one as representing the power of the 
enemy, ruling in the world aroand us, against 
which the soldiers of Christ are called to draw the 
sword, and which they are to overcome in the 
strength of God ; another, as representing the 
strongholds of sin which still exist even in the 
hearts of the redeemed, but against which an 
exterminating warfare is to be waged, and which 
are to be overcome and subdued in the same 
way. Although the latter application may be 
quite legitimate, and most useful to us all, it 
seems to me, from the analogy of the book as 
compared with the rest of Scripture, that the 
former is the primary interpretation. The book 
of Joshua corresponds, as I conceive, to the 
epistle to the Ephesians, and the entrance of the 
people upon the possession of all promised bless- 
ings in the " high places of the earth," fore- 
shadows the position of those who are now, through 
union in the death, burial, and resurrection of 
Christ, entitled to the possession of " all spiritual 
blessings in heavenly places in Him." The con- 
flict against gigantic powders, the seven great and 
mighty nations in Canaan, answers, therefore, pro- 
perly to the wrestling " against principalities and 
powers, and spiritual wickedness in heavenly 
places," described in the 6th chapter of that 



74 THE WARFARE OF FAITH. 

epistle, where it is not the inward struggle with 
indwelling sin that is the subject, but the outward 
contest with the god of this world, in which every 
servant of God engages, who understands and in 
any degree comes up to the realisation of his call- 
ing as a soldier of Christ. In this aspect, there- 
fore, let us principally consider the narrative 
before us. 

We find, then, that Jericho was part of the land 
which was called " the Lord's land ; " that it was 
nevertheless under the dominion of the powers of 
evil ; and that it was consequently in determined 
opposition to God. 

It was part of the Lord's land ; not only as a 
portion of the earth which He had created, but as 
a spot in that territory which He had specially 
marked out for His own dwelling and the mani- 
festation of His glory. It must have been a 
peculiarly attractive place. It was called u the city 
of palm-trees/' and we are told that the " situation 
of the city " was " pleasant." It lay within the 
confines of the country which, centuries before, 
God had promised to give to Abraham, and in 
which the father of the faithful, with Isaac and 
Jacob, " heirs with him of the same promise/' had 
dwelt in tabernacles. 

In the purpose of God, therefore, the place be- 
longed to Him, and though long usurped and used 
as a situation for a stronghold of His enemies, 
where those dwelt who wrought iniquity, the time 



THE WARFARE OF FAITH. 75 

hnd now come when the powers that had misused 
it were to be cast out, and the place become part 
and parcel of the inheritance of the Lord. The 
moment came when it was said to Joshua, " See, I 
have given into thine hands Jericho ; " and hence- 
forth it belonged to the people of God. 

There are many such places — hearts, the throne 
of which is occupied by the god of this world, 
the strongholds of sin, but which, nevertheless, 
are given to Him who is the Captain of our sal- 
vation, and which are to become part of the garden 
of the Lord. Such there were at Corinth — hearts 
in which Satan ruled; " fornicators, idolaters, 
adulterers, thieves, covetous, drunkards, revilers, 
extortioners ; " " children of disobedience," turning 
every gift of God, every natural power, every 
talent, every advantage, into opportunities and 
means for serving sin. But as one of the soldiers 
of Christ came to that place, armed with the sword 
of the Spirit, it was said unto him, " Speak, hold 
not thy peace — for I have much people in this city"'' 
The attack was made in faith ; the weapons, 
"mighty through God to the pulling down of 
strongholds," were wielded ; the walls fell down 
in numerous hearts, for " many of the Corinthians 
hearing, believed and were baptized ; " so that they 
who at one time could only be described by the 
terms used above, were then said to be "washed, 
sanctified, justified in the name of the Lord 
Jesus, and by the spirit of our God." Henceforth 



76 THE WARFARE OF FAITH. 

redeemed, delivered from the power of the usur- 
per, the god of this world, they were God's in- 
heritance, in whom He would dwell and be 
glorified. 

Now, while we have no divine revelation given 
to us as to the particular individuals whom it is 
the purpose of God to bring into subjection to 
Himself, we know that it is still true, and will be 
true, until the number of the ele^t is accomplished, 
that He has " much people in this city/' many 
Jerichos as it were ; many hearts still under the 
dominion of sin and Satan, but which it is His 
purpose to subdue unto Himself ; and the com- 
mand having been given to those who are His ser- 
vants to " preach the gospel to every creature," 
it is our part to regard all without distinction as 
those whom it may be God's good pleasure to de- 
liver out of the hand of the enemy. 

The heart of every unsaved one, of every one 
still ruled by the god of this world, is, or ought 
to be, to us a Jericho, against which we are to ad- 
vance in the power of faith, knowing that God 
will make His word effectual to the salvation of 
all whom He has given unto His dear Son. 

And whom are we entitled to except from this 
number ? Of whom have we the right to say that 
he is beyond the reach of the gospel, the efficacy 
of the blood of Christ, the power of the Holy 
Ghost ? Surely, of none. God has, no doubt, His 
own elect, u chosen in Christ before the foundation 



THE WARFARE OF FAITH. 77 

of the world," but their names are not revealed 
unto us, and our marching orders are, u Preach 
the gospel to every creature." Should we not, 
therefore, see in all with whom we come in con- 
tact, who are not yet subject unto Christ, for- 
tresses in which an usurper reigns, but which may 
become " cities of palm-trees," " pleasant for situa- 
tion/' the very dwelling-places of the Most High ? 

Surely, this is our place. And the men -and 
women who have been most used of God, and, 
therefore, most successful in winning souls to Him, 
have been those who, however hardened, depraved, 
and ruled by Satan the hearts with which they have 
had to do may have been, have regarded them as 
citadels to be gotten for the Lord. If they have not 
won all, they have won many; and numbers, in 
whom the enemy reigned supreme, have been made 
temples of the Holy Ghost. 

To all outward appearance, the assault upon such 
seems often a forlorn hope. Like Jericho, they 
appeared to be " walled up to Heaven." How are 
the soldiers of Christ, of whom " not many " are 
" mighty, not many wise," to capture such places ? 
And when the attack is imminent, when close con- 
tact with the people of God cannot be prevented, 
how frequently do we find the policy in vogue at 
Jericho accurately repeated, " Jericho was straitly 
shut up ; none went out, and none came in." A 
determined hostility, a studied reserve, a resolution 
to entrench themselves behind their works, their 



78 THE WARFARE OF FAITH. 

prejudices, their hatred of God, and to have nothing 
to do with His servants, is frequently the line adopted. 
And under whose direction? u The prince of the 
power of the air, the spirit that now worketh in the 
children of disobedience, ? ' is the counsellor on such 
occasions, and his directions are eagerly followed. 
The poor slave of sin, mistaking entirely the pur- 
poses of God towards him, imagines that to yield 
to Christ is to lose everything that makes life happy 
and enjoyable, and knowing that the demand is for 
an unconditional surrender, that no quarter will be 
shown to his sins, entrenches himself in his foolish 
walls, and determines to keep out God as long as 
possible. 

Jericho must, indeed, surrender ; everything evil 
in it must be purged out, the unbelieving powers 
within it must be exterminated; but it was in order 
that where sin had abounded, grace should much more 
abound, that it should become part of " Em manuel's 
land," the inheritance of the God of Jacob. There 
blind eyes were hereafter to be opened, there that 
which was lost was to be saved (Luke xviii. 35; 
xix. 10). Sons of the prophets were to dwell there 
(2 Kings ii.), and the waters which had been so 
bitter were to be healed, so that there would be "from 
thence no more death or barren land " (2 Kings ii. 
19, 21). This was God's purpose; this the enemy 
and his willing servants in the city were determined 
to resist. 

But in vain, the fulness of the time had come ; 



THE WARFAIiE OF FAITH. ?& 

the demands of grace, mingled, it is true, with 
judgment, were to be urged with irresistible power, 
and the kingdom of this world in that place was to 
become the kingdom of our Lord and his Christ. 

We thus see the character of the warfare which 
the " armies of the living G-od 5 ' are called upon to 
wage, the purpose which the Captain of their salva- 
tion has in view, and the encouragement which is 
given to them before even the battle begins. 

It is a warfare with no insignificant enemy. We 
may, perhaps, hereafter see the danger into which 
the Israelites fell, and the defeat that overtook 
them when they underestimated the power of their 
opponents, and overrated their own strength. The 
enemies we have to contend with in fighting the 
Lord's battles, in endeavouring, whenever He calls 
us, to bring rebellious hearts into subjection to His 
gracious sway, are no weak or unskilful ones ; 
" We wrestle not against flesh and blood, but 
against principalities, against powers, against the 
rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual 
wickedness in high places" (Eph. vi. 12). What 
a description of the hosts of evil! These are not 
mere kings of Jericho, sons of Anak, giants of 
an earthly Canaan, " principalities," " powers," 
"rulers of the darkness of this world," "wicked 
spirits in heavenly places " (margin). Their ruler 
is "the god of this world," "the prince of this 
world," " the prince of the power of the air," the 
spirit that now worketh " in the children of dis- 



80 THE WARFARE OF FAITH. 

obedience." Mighty, subtle, experienced, diaboli- 
cal, are the powers which garrison every heart 
which is not subject to the law of God. No artifice 
is unused, no labour is spared, to retain possession 
of them. If need be, as we learn from the story 
of the demoniac in Mark v., a " legion " of evil 
spirits can be employed to lead one human soul 
to destruction. The ferocity of the lion, the cun- 
ning of the serpent, the watchfulness of the fowls 
of the air, are all used to depict the character of 
those spirits which enslave the hearts of men, and 
" take them captive at (their) will." No attempt 
is too great for their devilish boldness, even the 
Son of God was tempted by their ruler ; no strata- 
gem is despised by them ; the form of a serpent 
will be used to gain insidious access to the unsus- 
pecting soul; their power is marvellous. "Satan 
himself is transformed into an angel of light, and it 
is no great thing if his ministers also be transformed 
as the ministers of righteousness." Oh, depend upon 
it, the powers of evil are indeed mighty! In them 
the fulness of the enmity against God are developed, 
and the u seven nations of Canaan, greater and 
mightier " than Israel, show to us that extraordinary 
combination of strength, subtlety, tenacity, per- 
sistency in evil, which characterise the mysterious 
powers, which, for reasons we cannot comprehend, 
have been permitted for a season to usurp and rule 
over part of the pleasant spots in the creation of 
God. 

It is against such, believer in Christ, that as a 



THE WARFARE OF FAITH. 81 

soldier nf the Lord Jesus Christ, you are enlisted 
to light. Do not underrate the power of your 
enemies. The "murderer," the "liar," the 
" tempter," the "destroyer "are some of the names 

i. 7 v 7 

by which he is described to you. Better far to 
measure the length of his spear, the weight of his 
shield, his stature, and his strength, that you may 
be then led to distrust your own strength and 
wisdom, and " take unto you the whole armour of 
God, that you may be able to stand in the evil day." 
By such tremendous powers, worker for Christ, are 
the hearts which you seek to win for your Master 
garrisoned ; and they are more in earnest, if pos- 
sible, to retain possession of them than the king of 
Jericho was to keep his pleasant city. Great pains 
have been taken to build up the walls of self 
righteousness and sin, even "up to heaven;" — 
the gates of the citadel are " straitly shut up," and 
prejudice and pride keep watch there continually ; 
and if, perchance, some forerunner of the grace 
of God, some message of truth should penetrate foi 
a moment, like the spies into Jericho, tidings in- 
stantly reach the ears of him who rules their hearts, 
and they are sought to be brought out and slain. 

It were well if, in seeking to work for Christ, to 
advance into the enemy's country, to rescue the 
hearts around us from the slavery of sin, and to 
bring them into subjection to the Lord of hosts, we 
more clearly recognised the "power of the enemy." 
There would be less parleying with sin, there 

if 



82 THE WARFARE OF FAITH. 

would be more pains taken to seek out the smooth 
stones of the brook, and more sharpening of the sword 
of the Spirit. If we realised the tremendous might 
of the force arrayed against us, because against the 
God whom we serve, we should perceive more clearly 
our utter insufficiency for the contest, should be 
led to distrust our own w r isdom, skill, eloquence — - 
in fact, all our natural power — and should conse- 
quently be driven to look alone to God, to use only 
His weapons, and to rely wholly on His power. 

It is nothing less than " all the power of the 
enemy " which is aroused against the gospel, for the 
god of this world knows well that the demands of 
Christ involve nothing short of entire surrender. 
If Christianity were content that Christ should take 
His place in the Pantheon with Jupiter and Mars, 
Bacchus and Apollo, there would be little, if any, 
resistance. But the ark of the Lord and Dagoh 
cannot dwell together. Christ hath no concord 
with Belial ; light hath no agreement with darkness ; 
and, therefore, every effort which the malice and 
skill of hell can devise, and the natural heart 
of man adopt, will ever be exerted as soon as the 
gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ comes into con- 
tact with the sinner. The " religion of the Jews," 
with its hardening self-righteousness, the " wisdom 
of the Greeks," with its contempt for the simplicity 
of the gospel, the " pleasures of sin," and u the 
fashion of this world/' will all unite to shut up 
the citadel straitly ; and against all these defences, 



THE WARFARE OF FAITH. 83 

influencing the moral, mental, and physical parts 
of man's nature, deadening the conscience, blind- 
ing the mind, and gratifying the flesh, who is able 
to contend? None but those who "put no confi- 
dence in the flesh, and rejoice in Christ Jesus ;■" 
they alone who wield weapons which the world 
despises, and who wield them in the name and in 
the power of the living God, are sufficient to attack 
and overcome such strongholds ; and their " suffi- 
ciency is of God." 

What those weapons are, and how they are to 
be used, we may notice hereafter. Let us now 
proceed to observe the two-fold encouragement 
which God gives us in the prosecution of the war- 
fare — viz., His purpose and His promise. It is a 
grand thing and a mighty help to know and under- 
stand the purpose of God in the work and war to 
which He has called His servants — the work of 
preaching the gospel ; the war against the world, 
the flesh, and the devil. Whilst in one aspect the 
obedience of the Christian soldier must be an un- 
hesitating, unquestioning, implicit obedience, it 
is, on the other hand, no unreasonable service in 
which he is engaged. Whilst the times and the 
seasons are hidden from us, we are yet admitted 
into the counsels of Him who sets the battle in 
array. He shows us the map of the enemy's 
country ; He reveals to us the plan of the cam- 
paign ; and He declares to us the purposes which 
He has in view. 



84 THE WARFARE OF FAITH. 

This purpose is the expulsion of the evil that 
reigns, and the subjection of the heart wherein it 
reigned to Himself. It may be difficult at first sight 
to understand the wholesale destruction of the in- 
habitants of Canaan, which was to be carried out 
under the express command of God, but the reason 
is given us in the Bible. We find in the 18th chap- 
ter of Leviticus the description of the fearful sins 
of which they were guilty ; iniquity so horrible, 
that, in the words of that chapter, " the land was 
defiled, and vomited out her inhabitants." As it 
was in the days that were before the flood, violence 
and vice had reached such a pitch that a God of 
long-suffering was at last compelled to say, " The 
end of all flesh is come before me, the earth is 
filled with violence, I will destroy them with the 
earth." For four hundred years and more the inha- 
bitants of the land had been adding sin to sin. As 
long ago as that God had marked their ways, and 
how they were filling up the measure of their ini- 
quity, and he said unto Abraham, " The iniquity 
of the Amorites is not yet full." Four centuries 
were given to them by Him who is " slow to 
anger," " and not willing that any should perish. " 
Four centuries of long-suffering had been abused, 
and now the cup was filled to the brim; their sins 
as well as their walls had " reached up to heaven," 
and the goodly land, the blessings of which they 
had so long perverted, was now^ to " spue them 
out," as irreclaimably, irremediably corrupt, as 



THE WARFARE OF FAITH. 85 

those " whose end was destruction." The fair 
portion of God's earth which they had defiled was 
at last to be rid of their corrupting presence, and 
to be made the holy place of the tabernacles of 
the Most High. 

As it was therefore in the days of the flood, and 
as it will be in u the end of the world," when " the 
Son of man shall send forth His angels, and they 
shall gather out of His kingdom all things that 
offend and them which do iniquity," so it was 
in the day when the land of Canaan was to be 
purged : the ruling power of evil must be expelled 
and exterminated, that the country might become 
the dwelling-place of God on earth and the resting- 
place of His people. 

" Cast out devils " was the command to the 
twelve ; " and He gave them power against un- 
clean spirits to cast them out." " In my name 
shall ye cast out devils " was the promise that 
accompanied the final command of the Saviour to 
His apostles, " Go ye into all the world, and 
preach the gospel unto every creature." They 
were to claim the world as the possession of the 
Most High ; and wherever hearts were found 
a possessed of the devil," that power was to be 
expelled, its dominion taken away, and its dwell- 
ing-place to become the habitation of the Holy 
Ghost. 

Such is the work still. Though not manifested 
exactly in the same way as in the days when evil 



86 THE WARFARE OF FAITH. 

spirits possessed the bodies of men, the hearts of 
those who are not subject to Christ are equally under 
the power of the devil. He is, as we have seen, the 
u spirit that now worketh in the children of disobe- 
dience." He rules their wills, blinds their minds, 
enslaves their affections, deadens their consciences, 
and claims entire and undisputed possession of the 
whole man. " The strong man armed keepeth his 
palace." " Sin reigns." 

But he is an usurper ; the bodies, hearts, minds, 
and spirits over which he reigns are the creation and 
the property of another, and the " prince of this 
world" is to be " cast out." His sceptre is to 
be broken, his dominion to cease, and those over 
whom he has ruled are to become the subjects of 
our Lord and His Christ. True, this purpose may 
not in this dispensation be fully accomplished ; there 
are and will be those who love darkness rather 
than light, and who, resisting the gracious opera- 
tion of God's Spirit, choose death rather than life. 
For a time this may be so — yet only for a time ; 
and while it is so, the duty of the servant of God 
is plain. As they know not the names of the 
elect, their business is to preach the gospel to 
every creature, to sound the gracious proclamation, 
" Whosoever will," far and wide, and to regard 
every human being as one in whom it may be the 
merciful purpose of the Lord to dethrone Satan, 
and to set up His kingdom. 

The expulsion of the devil is then our work ; 



THE WARFARE OF FAITH. 87 

this is the conflict to which the soldiers of Christ 
are called; this is the object of the Captain of 
our salvation in sending us against the strong- 
holds of vice, worldliness, and false religions. 
It is not the amendment of the life we are first to 
aim at ; this is to come after. The weeds that 
cumber the soil must be rooted out before the good 
seed can be sown ; the king of Jericho and his 
armies must be slain before the territory can be^- 
come part of " Immanuel's land." It is not the 
toleration of the rule of evil side by side with 
holiness. God and mammon cannot reign to- 
gether. The devil is to be expelled. 

Brethren in Christ, I ask you, as I ask myself, 
Do we realise this aspect of our work ? In preach- 
ing the gospel, in teaching the young, in endea- 
vouring to reach the conscience and to claim the 
hearts of men for our Lord and Saviour, do we 
remember, as we should, that " we wrestle not 
against flesh and blood, but against principalities, 
against powers, against the rulers of the darkness 
of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high 
places " (Eph. vi. 12). Do we bear in mind that 
beyond the natural enmity of the human heart, 
beyond the " carnal mind," which is " not subject 
to the law of God," there is the mighty power of 
the god of this world- — subtle beyond human com- 
prehension, and fertile in resources, binding the 
souls, as He did in olden times the body of the poor 
woman in the synagogue, so that they can " in no 



88 THE WARFARE OF FAITH. 

wise lift themselves up — instilling false impres- 
sions concerning God and His Christ, as he did 
with Eve in the garden, when he led her to doubt 
God's word, and to distrust His love ; as he did 
with the madman at Gadara, when he persuaded 
him that he who had crossed the lake amid the 
storm to heal and save him was u come to tor- 
ment." 

It is not merely outward reformation that is 
needed, or the amendment of manners, but the 
casting out and casting down of Satan, " the prince 
of the devils," from the throne of the heart ; and 
it is not smooth words, or careless efforts, or the 
resources of human mind that will accomplish that 
result. " This kind goeth not out, but by prayer 
and fasting." Oh, let us estimate fairly " all the 
power of the enemy ; " for then only shall we be in 
a proper condition to contend with him ; then only 
shall we cease to put any confidence in the flesh, and 
look alone to the " stronger than he " for wisdom, 
strength, and victory. 

The promise, however, the mighty promise of 
an Omnipotent Jehovah, is on our side. u See," 
He says, iC I have given into thine hand Jericho and 
the king thereof, and the mighty men of valour." 
It was therefore with the assurance that, although 
so straitly shut up, a way would be opened for 
them into the city, that, although so determined in 
its opposition, so mighty in its defences, and gar- 
risoned by such mighty men of valour, the fortress 



THE WARFARE OF FAITH. 89 

would shortly be vanquished and appropriated by 
the Israel of God, that Joshua and his armies 
advanced to the assault. The victory was theirs 
by the promise of God. They were already con- 
querors. 

This was but the repetition at the exact moment 
of need of all the promises that had gone before, 
as they journeyed through the wilderness. Now 
was the moment when their reality was to be 
proved ; and if, as they looked up at Jericho's 
walls, and surveying the mighty men of valour on 
the battlements, their spirits failed them when 
they thought of their own undisciplined hosts, 
from which "all the men of war " had died out, 
this was just the time when the assurance from 
the Captain of the Lord's host that victory was 
theirs was most reassuring and encouraging. Al- 
though to sense the attack was foolhardy, it was no 
forlorn hope to faith, for they who believed could 
say with truth, " If God be for us, who can be 
against us ? " The promise of victory must have 
nerved their hearts and strengthened their arms, 
and every step that they had to take in the attack 
mast have been steadied by the knowledge that it 
was with the absolute certainty of success that 
they advanced. For what availed the mighty men 
of valour against an Almighty God ? What could 
Jericho do to withstand Jehovah? If He who 
had broken Egypt's might, destroying their chosen 
cavalry, and overwhelming their king and their 



90 THK WARFARE OF FAITH. 

captains in one night, was with them; if He, 
against whom neither the proud waves of the Red 
Sea, nor the rushing torrent of Jordan, could avail 
anything, was on their side ; if He, before whom 
the mountains quaked and the rocks melted, was 
interposing on their behalf, then they might well 
look upon the fortress before them as vanquished. 
And in the conflict with the powers of evil in 
these days the same promise is our strength and 
encouragement. Was it not this assurance that 
was given to those whom Jesus sent forth to un- 
dertake the apparently impossible task of casting 
out devils. " Behold," said He to the seventy, 
" I give unto you power to tread on serpents and 
scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy " 
(Luke x. 19). And was it not in the confidence 
that the Captain of salvation would get himself 
the victory that Paul, sometimes single-handed, 
attacked the citadels of Greece and Rome? 
Though insufficient in himself, " in bodily pre- 
sence weak, and in speech contemptible " (so at 
least his detractors said), he could say, " Now, 
thanks be unto God, who always causeth us to 
triumph in Christ, and maketh manifest the 
savour of his knowledge by us in every place." 
Athenian philosophy, Corinthian luxury and world- 
liness, Roman power, were alike overcome where- 
ever God had those who were to be " delivered 
from the power of darkness and translated into 
the kingdom of His dear Son." The violence of 



THE WARFARE OF FAITH. 91 

the Jewish priests, the wrath of Satan at Ephesus, 
his cunning at Philippi, the walls of dungeons, 
the fury of tempests were all alike powerless to 
hinder him till His work was done. " Fear not. 
Paul, I am with thee," was His encouragement 
and therefore waving aloft the banner of the ever- 
lasting gospel, he advanced into the territories 
long ruled by Satan and sin, by the night of 
Paganism, and the pride of natural religiousness, 
winning glorious victories in prisons and in 
palaces, rescuing souls and bringing them to 
Christ. 

He knew well that the counsel of the Lord 
must stand; that His word must accomplish that 
which He pleased, and must prosper in the thing 
whereto He sent it ; and though man might mock, 
and rage, and turn away, He was sure that He, to 
whom all His works were known from the begin- 
ning of the world, would surely carry out His pur- 
poses, and would make His gospel effectual to 
bring every soul to Christ which had been given 
to Him in the everlasting coveuant, 

And this is our strength and encouragement still, 
believers in Christ, and fellow- workers unto the 
kingdom of God. The same Omnipotent Jehovah 
is on our side. Though our enemies are mighty, 
though superstition and infidelity still seem to rule, 
though Satan and sin yet have the upper place in 
the hearts of thousands, God is yet our " King, 
working salvation in the midst of the earth ; " and 



92 THE WARFARE OF FAITH. 

the word of Jesus is true, " All that the Farher 
giveth me shall come to me." It is, therefore, no 
uncertain warfare in which we are engaged. God, 
who has " visited the Gentiles to take out of them a 
people for His name," will not be defeated in His 
purpose. The number of the elect must be accom- 
plished, and it is by the preaching of Christ to 
every creature that God is pleased to save them 
that believe. 

" In much assurance," accordingly, we may as- 
sault the strongholds of sin ; and though we may 
not know beforehand the precise individuals in 
whom the mighty power of God shall be mani- 
fested, w r e shall nevertheless be able to say as we 
look back, and see many an one in whom Satan 
reigned now the temple of the Holy Ghost, " Thou 
hast made of a city an heap, a defenced city to be a 
ruin, a palace of strangers to be no city ; " "I will 
exalt Thee, I will praise Thy name." 

Let us then rejoice and take courage as we re- 
member that it is with an enemy already in the 
purpose of God vanquished and overcome that we 
have to fight. The victory has already commenced. 
When the seventy came back to their Master with 
joy, saying, " Lord, even the devils are subject unto 
us through Thy name," He said unto them, " I be- 
held Satan like lightning fall from heaven." The 
rapidly approaching death of the Son of man was 
to " destroy him that had the power of death, 
that iSj the devil;" and already, in anticipation, 



THE WARFARE OF FAITH. 93 

the eye of " the prophet greater than Moses " saw 
the in suit of the conflict. 

Again, on another occasion, he said, " Now is the 
prince of this world cast out," and once more, 
" The prince of this world is judged." " For ever 
settled in heaven," therefore, is the great purpose ; 
the ruler of the darkness of this world — the power 
that has been permitted, for some wise reason not 
permitted to us at present to fathom, to rule so 
widely and so long over this fair spot in the crea- 
tion of God, over the souls and bodies of many of 
God's creatures — is in the purpose and promise of 
Jehovah dethroned, judged, and sentenced. The 
victory, in its final completeness, has not yet taken 
place. The promise of Christ that the " God of 
peace shall bruise Satan under our feet shortly," 
yet awaits its fulfilment, as does the other promise 
to which the same speedy accomplishment is at- 
tached, u Behold, I come quickly." One is as cer- 
tain as the other, and each has now its incipient 
fulfilment as stronghold after stronghold falls, as 
Satan loses the hearts over which he has ruled, and 
the minds which he has blinded, and as He " whose 
right it is " sets up His dominion in the cleansed 
and sanctified soul. 

Soon, very soon — "yet a little while" — the full 
and final victory over the power of evil shall be 
won. He who was " manifested that He might 
destroy the works of the devil " will come forth to 
make " a short work " of destruction. Satan shall 



94 THE WARFARE OF FAITH. 

first be bound a thousand years, and then, — after a 
little season, which will only serve to exhibit tiie 
hatred of God and man, which even that period in 
the bottomless pit has failed to change, — shall be 
cast into the lake of fire. 

In the meanwhile, beloved brethren who read 
these pages, let us exhort one another to be "strong 
in the Lord and in the power of His might." He 
is on our side. Our enemy is His enemy, and that 
enemy is sentenced. Let us fight with no wavering 
in our ranks, no uncertainty in our hearts. " He 
giveth us the victory." Let us give God credit 
for being as mighty to pull down strongholds now 
as in the days of Jericho. A doubting heart wins 
few victories, but they must be won, and if we win 
them not, others will be called to fill our place. 
The want now is men, full of faith and the Holy 
Ghost, ready to lead forlorn hopes, knowing that 
nothing can stand before the power of God. Men 
like Jonah, who though once weak and faint- 
hearted, yet afterward stormed " that great city 
Nineveh " single handed, and brought it, by God's 
power — king, nobles, and people — to cry mightily 
unto God, and to turn from its evil way, so that it 
perished not. 

But oh, remember it is only as you live in the 
promised land, judgment consciously behind you, 
" risen and seated with Christ in the heavenly 
places," that you can exercise this faith. It was 
not on the wron£ side of Jordan that such victories 



THE WARFARE OF FAITH. 95 

were won by Israel. It was only when Jonah, 
knew what death, burial, and resurrection were in 
his own person that, as a man "alive from the 
dead/' he became " a sign " as well as a preacher 
unto Nineveh. 

Therefore, abide in Christ, dwell in the land ; 
leave not the high places of conscious union with 
a risen Saviour, whence enemies, and towers, and 
walls appear very small, for the lower level of the 
world, the atmosphere of which always magnifies 
its ruling' powers ; and then you shall find in your 
work and warfare for Him who has called you to be 
a soldier of the cross, that you will be able to say, 
as one after another the hearts you seek to win 
yield themselves to Him, " We are more than con- 
querors through Him that loved us." 



V. 

THE TRIUMPH OF FAITH. 

" The wall fell down flat" — Joshua vi. 20. 

" The weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but 

mighty through God to the pulling down of 

strongholds"— -2 Cor. x. 4. 
4 * God hath chosen the weak things of the world to 

confound, the things which are mighty" — 1 Cor. 

i. 27. 
" That the excellency of the power may be of God, 

and not of us." — 2 Cor. iv. 7. 

We now come to a consideration of the particular 
means which were made use of to overcome the 
power of the strong frontier fortress which barred the 
way of the children of Israel, as they stood upon 
the border of the land which Grod had promised to 
give them. The assurance of victory, it is true, 
was theirs already ; they had the word of God for 
it that the city should be theirs ; but it was now 
their duty to act upon the promise, to go forward 
in obedience to the command, and in the strength 
of faith to claim Jericho for the Lord of hosts; and 
we can easily see that the remarkable events that 



THE TKIUMPH OF FAITH. 97 

signalised its fall were meant to exhibit to the 
people on this, the occasion of their first conflict 
in the promised land, the principles on which their 
warfare was to be conducted, and the power which 
— so long as they conformed to those principles — 
would be exerted on their side. 

And whilst " these things happened unto them 
for ensamples, they are written for our admoni- 
tion, upon whom the ends of the world are come." 
If it was needful for them who wrestled against 
u flesh and blood " to give heed to the instruc- 
tion thus conveyed to them, how much more 
necessary is it for us, who contend a against prin- 
cipalities and powers, against the rulers of the 
darkness of this world, against wicked spirits 
in heavenly places," to mark well the principles of 
the warfare in which we are engaged, and to learn 
the lessons which God has thus condescended to 
teach us. May we, therefore, have grace to discern 
the all-important truths which are conveyed in the 
incidents now before us. 

Let us notice briefly, in the first place, that 
God prescribed the adoption of certain mea- 
sures, the use of certain means, on the part of 
the Israelites. We may well conceive that if 
He had chosen, He need not have done so. He 
had given them the city, and it would have 
been doubtless as easy for Him to bring down its 
walls by the simple exercise of His power, without 
any action on the part of His people, as it was for 

G 



98 THE TRIUMPH OF FAITH. 

Him to create the world by a word, or to divide 
the waters of the Red Sea. But He did not do so. 
Whilst the power which broke down the fortress walls 
was all His own, He yet commanded certain steps 
to be taken by those whom He led against the city. 
He made use of means, and the adoption of them 
proved the faith, obedience, and patience of Israel. 
The lesson to us is on the surface. It stands 
out not only here, but prominently, we may say, 
on almost every page of Scripture. God bids 
His servants work, He permits them to w r ork with 
Him, and He does not, as a rule, work without 
their work. This is true, let us remember, of His 
servants, and of them alone. It is the principle 
on which He carries on His operations in the pre- 
sent dispensation ; it applies to service, not salva- 
tion. In the work of salvation, no co-operation 
was demanded, none could have been effectual. 
In the great transaction of accomplishing the 
salvation of His people, the mighty worker said, 
" Of the people there was none with me." He 
finished that work alone ; and no human effort is 
needed on the part of the sinner to make that work 
effectual to the salvation of his own soul. " To 
him that worketh not but belie veth " is the prin- 
ciple on which salvation is imparted. The sinner 
has but to accept Jesus, to trust in Him and in 
what He has done for him, to rely on His word, 
to rest in His salvation. If a hand has to be 
stretched out, it must be an empty one — 



THE TRIUMPH OF FAITH. 99 

u Nothing in my hand I bring, 
Simply to Thy cross I cling." 

2STo weapon must be there, no work? performed. 

lu? hand is an empty one. and mast be empty 

to receive Gk -V- gift — His S( n Jesus Christ There 

is no w.;::. with God for our own salvation.* 
We must ,; let that alone for ever'' (Ps. xiix. 8, 
Prayer Be ok version). 

But it may be said. Is it not in the use of the 
means of grace that salvation is to be found? Are 
we not told to use such means ? I reply, Christ 
is the on ly means of grace, the onlv channel through 
h grace flows from God to sinners, and the 
only means by which, grace can be received. It is 
true that prayer, the hearing and reading of God's 
Word, are often called means of grace, and no 
doubt the soul must know about Christ either by 
hearing or reading before it can believe (for "'how 
shall they believe on Him of whom they have not 
heard?*'), and prayer is the expression of the soul's 
need to God; but prayers may be uttered, and the 
Word heard and read, without grace being received 
into the heart. Christ must be laid hold of. re- 
ceived, apj rehended; through Him God speaks to 
us. by Him we draw nigh to God. Christ is the 
only real means of grace, and as He ma}" be 

* There is the "working out our own salvation," hut this is not 

workin_ ■_-';■■ salvation. It is the working of one :...': i u God works 

I and to do " — of one. therefore, who is already saved, and in 

■•"'_ . _ G'-d i '.yells and .p crates. 



100 THE TRIUMPH OF FAITH. 

believed on and received as soon as His voice 
is heard and His message understood, there is 
no need for the long use of so-called means of 
grace in order to receive Him in whom is salva- 
tion. 

For the soul that has found grace, and is conse- 
quently alive unto God, prayer, praise, and the 
reception of God's Word, is as needful to maintain 
health and strength as breathing and the partaking 
of food are necessary for the health of the body, and 
it is in the use of such means that the heart has 
communion with God. And in the same way the 
right use of the ordinances of Christ are strength- 
ening to the soul, for they are remembrances of 
Him ; but it is only after He himself, the great 
fountain of living waters, has been received, that 
the lesser rills can be of real profit. 

In speaking, therefore, of the use of means now, 
I am referring to the part which He enjoins on His 
own people and permits them to undertake; not for 
the saving of their own souls, but for the work 
which He is carrying on for the saving of others, 
the destruction of the kingdom of Satan, and the 
deliverance of the captives from his power. As in 
the kingdom of nature, so in the kingdom ol grace. 
The same God who does not give the harvest with- 
out man's toil, though it is produced by His power, 
who ordains that the treasures of earth and sea 
and air shall only be realised by the diligence 
of man, though already given to hinl for a posses- 



THE TRIUMPH OF FAITH. 101 

sion, lias seen fit to make use of human hands to 
sow the word of the kingdom and to reap the 
harvest, of human voices to preach His truth, aud 
of human hearts through which the rivers of living 
waters are to flow to enrich the parched lands 
around them. Human hands must roll away the 
stone from the grave of Lazarus, must " loose him 
and let him go," must distribute the bread to the 
hungry multitudes ; and though the Lord of life 
and power could, if He chose, have as easily 
wrought the work without them, He was pleased 
to use them ; thus showing that His servants are 
privileged to work with Him in the great business 
of liberating captive souls and satisfying empty 
hearts. 

It is thus a principle in the kingdom of God 
that the results which He purposes to accomplish 
in gathering out a people to His name and com- 
pleting the body of Christ, shall, as a rule, be 
accomplished by divine power working through 
human, and therefore weak, instruments. Whilst, 
therefore, we know that He has given a people to 
His Son for an inheritance, and that every one 
thus given " shall come" to Him, we are not to 
abandon human effort for the conversion of our 
fellow-sinners on the plea that if they are to be 
saved they will be saved, but, thankfully acknow- 
ledging the gracious purpose of our Father in 
permitting us to be the instruments in His hands 
of winning souls to Christ, we are to go forward, 



102 THE TRIUMPH OF FAITH. 

using the means that He has been pleased to ordain, 
knowing that the " power belongeth unto God," 
but that to us it belongeth to preach the Gospel to 
every creature. 

Though Jericho's walls were most certainly to 
fall, the result was to be attained when Israel took 
the steps prescribed by Him who was leading them 
to victory, and not by their sitting idly in their 
camp, waiting for God to put forth His power. 
Such conduct would have the fruit not of faith, 
but of presumption ? God uses human means to 
enlarge His kingdom on earth, and to bring down 
the " fortress of the high walls," while all the 
glory of the victory belongs to Him and Him 
alone. 

What, then, were the means used? 

It appears to me that they may be particularised 
as follows : the exhibition of the ark of the cove- 
ant; the blowing of the trumpets; the shout of 
the people ; their faith and patience. And these 
may serve, as I believe they are intended to serve, 
the purpose of teaching us important lessons for 
the conduct of the warfare, the tremendous character 
of which we have in some measure considered in 
the previous chapter. 

The first and foremost, then, was the exhibition 
of the ark of the covenant. That ark was the scene 
and symbol of God's presence with His people, en- 
shrined in the " holy of holies." It was the centre 
of the tabernacle; all the worship of the priests 



THE TRIUMPH OF FAITH. 103 

and people had its object there. From between the 
cherubims there shone forth the rays of glory, the 
Shekinah, and He who thus displayed a portion of 
His brightness was addressed as. " thou that 
dwellest between the cherubims/' But. as I have 
endeavoured to show briefly in a previous volume, 
the ark in an especial manner typified and foresha- 
dowed the Lord Jesus Christ, in whose person God 
would be manifested; the two materials, wood and 
gold, representing the human and divine nature of 
" Immanuel — God with us;" the unbroken tables 
of the law, deposited in the ark, foreshadowing that 
perfect fulfilment of the law by Him who could say, 
" I delight to do Thy will ; yea, Thy law is within 
my heart," and the mercy-seat or propitiatory, of 
which Jehovah said, " There will I meet with you, 
and common? with you," exhibiting the Saviour 
who has been " set forth as a propitiation* through 
faith in His blood," and who is the only meeting- 
place between sinners and a God of holiness. 

The ark, moreover, was the continual manifes- 
tation of an atonement made by sacrifice. Year 
by year, as they travelled through the wilderness, 
the golden mercy-seat had been sprinkled with the 
blood of atonement, and that which completely 
covered the condemning law, and on which the 

* The word translated " propitiation " in Rom. iii. 25, and there 
applied to Christ, is the same as that used in the Septuagint ver- 
sion of the Old Testament for the " mercy-seat," and it is that ver- 
sion from which all the quotations in the New Testament are 
made. 



104 THE TKIUMPH OF FAITH. 

glory of Jehovah was displayed, bore indelible 
crimson stains, which told of the law vindicated, 
peace made, and forgiveness bestowed*, 

It was this ark thus sprinkled with blood which, 
borne on the priests-' shoulders, met and sustained 
the overwhelming weight of the waters of Jordan 
or " stream of judgment, " and thus opened a safe 
and easy way for the people into the promised 
land ; and we are especially told that it was at the 
presence of the God of Jacob that the Jordan 
was " driven back " (Ps. cxiv. 5-7). And who 
was it but Christ — God " manifest in the flesh" — 
who, in the fulness of His priestly power, went down 
into the dark waters of judgment, alone bore that 
weight that must have destroyed every one, and 
thus made " a way through the depths for the 
ransomed of the Lord to pass over ; " and 6i when 
He had overcome the sharpness of death, opened 
the kingdom of heaven to all believers." 

Jesus Christ, then, is the true ark — in him God 
has been and is manifested ; through Him the 
glory shines forth to us ; He is u the propitiation for 
our sins," the meeting-place with a holy God. He 
is the continual witness of an atonement made and 
accepted — an atonement which exactly meets and 
fully covers the demand of the law ; an atonement 
on the ground of which a God of infinite holiness 
can meet with and reveal Himself to sinful men. 
He has borne our judgment; from Him death re- 
coiled, vanquished. Pie is " the power of God." It 



THE TRIUMPH OF FAITH. 105 

is by His enduring the weight of judgment in oui 
stead that we are delivered ; it is by the lifting up 
and exhibition of Him, a crucified but exalted 
Saviour, that the towers still fall, and the citadels 
of Satan become the dwelling-places of the Spirit. 

The attack upon Jericho was thus arranged. 
" All the men of war" went in front; seven 
priests, blowing trumpets of rams' horns, came 
next ; then the ark, borne upon the shoulders of 
the Levites, and then the remainder of the host 
closed the procession. Thus, as we read, they com- 
passed the city six days. Once each day they 
marched round the city ; no sword was drawn, no 
words were spoken ; the white-robed priests blew 
with the insignificant-looking trumpets of rams* 
horns ; in the centre of the whole was an object 
covered with a cloth of blue on men's shoulders, 
and the mass of the nation followed. A more ex- 
traordinary method of attacking a great fortress 
was surely never devised ; -and we can well imagine 
how strange it must have appeared to the garrison 
of Jericho, and what mockery and taunts it must 
have aroused. 

As day after day the curious procession 
marched round the town, and day after day closed 
without any assault, as they saw the armed men 
return into the camp, they must have said, as 
enemies of God said in a later day, " What do 
these feeble Jews ? " " Will they make an end in 
a day ? " What absurdity is this ? And one would 



106 XHE TRIUMPH OF FAITH, 

almost think that they must have been inclined, as 
each day's apparently ineffectual march ended in 
inaction, to leave their fortifications and sally forth 
against an enemy who could do nothing more than 
march about, and blow useless blasts with little 
rams' horns. And yet, perhaps, some awe fell upon 
them ; they knew that that strange-looking cloth 
of blue covered an object which had hurled back 
the rushing torrent of the Jordan for miles ; that 
the people that marched round the city were guided 
and accompanied by a mighty power, which had 
"broken Egypt in pieces" and " divided the Red Sea 
in parts," and they may have regarded with undefined 
alarm the mysterious procession around their walls. 

But be that as it may, with whatever feelings, 
whether of ridicule or terror, they watched the pro- 
ceedings of Israel, and listened to the sound of the 
trumpets, for six days the same sight was seen, 
the same sound heard ; and the seventh day at last 
dawned, when an earlier stir was observed in the 
camp of Israel, when, instead of once only, the pro- 
cession wound seven times round the walls of the 
city, and the same apparently monotonous blast 
was repeated during each circuit. 

At last the word of command was given by 
Joshua. As the seventh circuit was completed, the 
strict silence hitherto enjoined, and only inter- 
rupted by the sound of the rams' horns was 
broken ; and u it carae to pass at the seventh 
time, when the priests blew with the trumpets, that 



THE TRIUMPH OF FAITH. 107 

Joshua said unto the people, Shout, for the Lord 
hath given you the city. So the people shouted 
when the priests blew with the trumpets ; and it 
came to pass, when the people heard the sound of 
the trumpet, and the people shouted with a great 
shout, that the wall fell down flat."' Jericho sank 
into ruins. The blast of the trumpets, the great 
shout were Israel's ; the excellency of the power 
was of God, Man used the prescribed means : 
God put forth the promised might; the result 
was accomplished. The means may have seemed, 
utterly inadequate : but He who can use a " worm " 
to " thresh the mountains,*' and who chooses the 
weak things of the world to confound the mighty, 
used the apparently useless daily procession of 
priests with ark and trumpets and the shout of the 
people to bring down the pride of Jericho and lay 
its towers in the dust.* 

And such is God's method still. Means which 
to the world seem ridiculous and utterly inadequate 
are the plan which He adopts to accomplish His 
purposes of grace. The uplifting and exhibition of 
a crucified Saviour — the preaching of the blood of 

* The collective action of priests, men of war. and people in the 
work beautifully exhibits the union in the effort to extend the 
kingdom of God, which is the privilege, aud should be the charac- 
teristic of all His people. Not that some are priests., while others are 
common people — all are "a royal priesthood, an holy nation" (1 Pet. 
ii. 9)— all are called to be ''soldiers of Christ ; " but all do not ap- 
prehend their privileges or understand their high calling and posi- 
tion. Some only know themselves to be amongst God's people, others 



108 THE TRIUMPH OF FAITH. 

the cross, "to the Jews a stumbling-block, and to 
the Greeks foolishness " — the feeble breath of an 
obscure band of pilgrims, not flowing melodiously 
through silver trumpets, but giving a perhaps harsh 
and discordant sound, through paltry rams' horns 
- — such are the instrumentalities which the Lord 
of hosts is pleased to use, and which are u mighty 
through God to the pulling down of strongholds, 
casting down imaginations and every high thing 
that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God, 
and bringing into captivity every thought to the 
obedience of .Christ." 

Was it not always so ? Has He not ever 
" chosen the foolish things of the world to con- 
found the wise," and the u weak things of the world 
to confound the things which are mighty % " Yes, 
indeed, "base things of the world, and things which 
are despised, hath God chosen, and things which 
are not, to bring to nought things that are.'' That 
is, He chooses instruments which the world in its 
fancied wisdom counts u foolish, "base," " weak," 
" despised," things which, it may be true, have no in- 
herent excellency of their own, no power, no might, 

recognise themselves to be also soldiers ; while others again under- 
stand that, as brethren of the Great High Priest, sprinkled with the 
blood and anointed with the oil, they are also priests unto God. 
But whatever their degree of spiritual intelligence, all may unite, 
according to their capacity, in the great battle under the Captain 
of salvation ; and every believer in Christ unites in himself the 
position, and may discharge the functions, of priest, warrior, and 
child of God. 



THE TRIUMPH OF FAITH. 109 

but which He makes mighty by letting omnipo- 
tence flow through them. 

All His dealings prove this to be His way. 
And why is it His way? " That no flesh should 
glory in His presence" — that all the power should 
be seen and acknowledged to be His, strength 
ascribed unto God, and the glory due unto His 
name be given to Him. 

Trace a few of His works. What was the 
weapon that " divided the sea whose waves roared?" 
A rod in Moses' hand. What instrument slew a 
thousand Philistines ? The jaw-bone of an ass. 
What healed the dying Israelites ? A serpent on 
a pole. What overcame the giant's strength? A 
smooth stone from a shepherd's sling. 

" Ways seeming base and weak 

A God of might will try ; 
Such ways His presence speak, 

And tell His arm is nigh : 
His finger in the work is shown, 
And glory springs to God alone. 

" When sons of earth surround 
A hostile city strong, 
The cannon tear the ground, 
The trenches creep along ; 
But when the Lord attacks a town, 
With foolish horns He blows it down." # 

And as in Old Testament, so in New Testament 
times. Who were the men chosen to attack the 

* Berridge. 



110 THE TRIUMPH OF FAJTH. 

high walls of Jewish self-righteousness, Grecian 
wisdom, and Roman power; to dethrone Paganism 
in its stronghold, and claim the world for the 
Lord ? A band of fishermen from the shores of a 
Syrian lake, ;i unlearned and ignorant" men, the 
" poor of this world," boasting, with one exception, 
no college education ; and that one confessed that 
when He came to the place where worldly luxury 
and intellectual refinement reigned, he " came not 
with excellency of speech or of man's wisdom." 
Athenians called him "a babbler," and Corinthian 
adversaries asserted him to be " in presence weak, 
and in speech contemptible." 

Yet the trumpet blown by these men and their 
companions shook the world. Their enemies called 
them "the men that have turned the world upside 
down." Their preaching of the cross was mighty 
to subdue hearts within dungeons, and to make 
kings tremble on their thrones. u There was war 
in heaven ; and the dragon fought, and his angels, 
and prevailed not." The sound of the gospel went 
out into all lands, the bulwarks of Satan and sin 
fell in many and many a heart, and nations became 
obedient to the faith. The handful of despised 
Galileans " through faith subdued kingdoms ; " 
a dying and risen Saviour preached and lifted 
up, brought into contact with heathen fortresses, 
with hearts where Satan reigned, proved to be the 
power of God unto salvation. 

And so it is still. Our " weapons are mighty 



THE TRIUMPH OF FAITH. 1 1 1 

through God." Though the treasure be in but 
" earthen vessels," yet, as the lamp shining forth 
from the broken pitchers of Gideon's three hundred, 
and the sound of the trumpets which they blew, 
struck dismay into the host of the Midianites, so 
the word of the Lord avails still to scatter the 
power of the enemy, and the preaching of Jesus 
Christ, the crucified, brings to nought the barriers 
of sin. 

The "wise," the " mighty," the " noble " may 
still despise the apparently feeble efforts of those 
who are fighting the battles of the Lord. " Jews" 
may yet " require a sign," and " Greeks seek after 
wisdom." We must content ourselves with, and 
glory in, the preaching of the cross. While this 
dispensation lasts, as long as the glory of God 
is a glory only seen by faith, Jesus, " the Lord of 
glory," will still be as " a root out of dry ground," 
having " no form or comeliness " in the eyes of the 
world at large ; and they who preach Him, and 
Him alone, as the power of God unto salvation, 
may be content to bear His reproach, and be 
counted fools, fanatics, enthusiasts, madmen. 

In these days of enlightenment, civilisation, and 
philosophy (falsely so called), evangelical preaching 
may be looked down upon ; and the world at large 
that calls itself Christian, and cannot do without 
a religion, either as a test of respectability, or as a 
salve to the conscience, may call for teachings 
more adapted to the requirements of an age that 



112 THE TRIUMPH OF FAITH. 

boasts of its advanced knowledge , and many who 
know not that Christ crucified is the only power for 
the demolition of the stronghold of Satan, and 
the deliverance of the lost sinner, may seek by a 
sensuous ritual, by music that pleases the ear, 
vestments and outward exhibitions that catch the 
eye, and discourses that gratify the intellect with- 
out probing or meeting the wants of the heart, to 
commend Christianity in the world. But it is the 
business and glory of true servants to exalt Christ, 
and Christ crucified alone. " Enticing words oi 
man's wisdom" and " excellence of speech," 
though Gf-od may sometimes make use of them — 
nay, often does use the gifts of intellect and 
tongue which He has bestowed — are not the secret 
of power. " Jesus only " must be their motto and 
their theme, or their labour will be in vain. 

Therefore, brethren in Christ, fellow-workers 
unto the kingdom of G-od, take courage ! Though 
numbers may despise your frequent repetition ot 
" the old, old story," preach nothing else. There 
is no real monotony in the story of the cross; 
preach Christ, and let all your teaching radiate 
from, and centre in Him. All the Scriptures testify 
of Him. You never can exhaust the fulness that 
is in Him. There is enough in Him to meet the 
wants of the lowest and the worst ; there is 
variety enough in Him to satisfy every fresh want 
of the soul that has already known Him as a 
Saviour. 



THE TRIUMPH OF FAITH. 113 

Tract distribution, open-air preaching, will never 
be fashionable ; the mighty men of Jericho will ever 
despise the insignificant tract, and the sounds of 
the gospel apparently scattered to the winds. But 
by these means, which the world calls foolish, God 
is glorified; for the Christ you testify of is " the 
wisdom of God, and the power of God." 

Remember, moreover, that as it was by the 
daily and continued manifestation of the ark in 
the repeated walk around Jericho that God was 
pleased to exercise His power, so it is now. It is 
not only by the testimony of the lips, the sound 
of the trumpet, but by the testimony of the life, 
the daily walk, the " conversation " of the servant 
of God, joined to the proclamation of the truth by 
word of mouth, that the great victories are won. 

" Always bearing about in the body the dying of 
the Lord Jesus, that the life also of Jesus might 
be made manifest in our body," was the secret of 
success of the great apostle, and it is the secret of 
success still. The steady walk of faith, the dying 
daily, the identification with a crucified Lord, the 
losing of our own life, and thus " the bearing 
about the dying of the Lord Jesus " : this is the 
way of victory which the world understands not. 
Life and power are only through death; "the 
corn of wheat" — symbol of Christ and of all His 
people — must still " fall into the ground and die," 
if it is to bring forth much fruit. 

But work and walk in faith. The ark was 

H 



1J4 THE TRIUMPH OF FAITH. 

carried round Jericho in faith, the trumpets were 
blown in faith, the great shout was given in faith ; 
for we read, " By faith the walls of Jericho fell 
down, after they were compassed about seven days " 
(Heb. xi. 30). Joshua, the priests, the men of 
war, and the people, believed God, and trusted in 
His power. Therefore they acted as they did ; it was 
a shout of triumphant faith that burst from the 
hosts of Israel. They did not wait to see God's 
power exerted before they would shout ; they did 
not hesitate, thinking that perhaps after all nothing 
would happen if they did shout, and that they 
would only cover themselves with shame and 
ridicule if no result followed. They were " strong 
in faith, giving glory to God;" and according to 
their faith, so it was unto them. " By faith the 
walls of Jericho fell down." 

This was the secret of the great victory ; and 
without this the procession, the lifting up and 
carrying about the ark, the blasts from the trum- 
pets, the great shout, would all have been use- 
less. And this is the only way to win victories 
still. If we expect to see no results follow, we 
shall see none ; it is when we " believe," that we 
" see the glory of God." The power of God is not 
the less, but it is the law of His kingdom, the 
plan on which He is pleased to act, that this power 
shall be put forth in proportion to the faith of His 
servants ; and where there is distrust and doubt 
He does not work, or if He does in His gracious 



THE TRIUMPH OF FAITH. 115 

sovereign ty, the exercise of which, in one sense, 
"tarrieth not for man, nor waiteth for the sons 
of men," it is but a little that is accomplished com- 
pared with the results that a large, strong faith 
would ensure. 

We read of one place, " He could do there no 
mighty work, save that He laid His hands upon a 
few sick folk, and healed them" (Mark vi. 5), and 
what was the reason % " He did not many mighty 
works there because of their unbelief" (Matt. xiii. 58). 
The working of Grod's power is restrained by doubt; 
as long as faith brings empty vessels to be filled, 
the oil flows on ; when there is no more receptivity, 
the oil stops. If the King of Israel had smitten 
five or six times on the ground with the arrows, he 
should have smitten Syria till he had consumed it; 
but he smote but thrice and stayed, and he was 
to, smite Syria but thrice (2 Kings xiii. 18, 19). 

The fight in which the armies of God are engaged 
is essentially the " fight of faith." It is one carried 
on, not by human energy, but by trust in divine 
power ; its success is dependent, not on the strength 
of man's arm, but on that of the almighty " arm of 
the Lord," of which faith lays hold. Of every 
triumphant conflict the record is true, " They got 
not the land in possession by their own sword, 
neither did their own arm save them; but Thy 
right hand, and Thine arm, and the light of Thy 
countenance, because Thou hadst a favour unto 
them ; " and therefore the expression of the be- 



116 THE TRIUMPH OF FAITH. 

liever's resolution is, " I will not trust in my bow, 
neither shall my sword save' me; through Thee 
will we push down our enemies ; through Thy name 
will we tread them under that rise up against us" 
(Ps. xlrv. 3, 5, 6). 

While the diligent and proper use of the pre- 
scribed weapons is incumbent on the soldiers of 
Christ, the Captain of their salvation stands in no 
need of their strength. They lift up a rod over 
the roaring waves, He blows with His wind, the 
sea covers their enemies (see Exod. xv. 10). They 
marched round the walls, and gave a shout, but 
"His right hand, and His holy arm, hath gotten 
Him the victory." Therefore it is entirely by 
trust in an unseen but omnipotent God that all 
victories are won. It was "through faith," and 
by no human energy, that God's servants in olden 
times " subdued kingdoms, wrought righteousness, 
obtained promises, stopped the mouths of lions, 
quenched the violence of fire, escaped the edge of 
the sword, out of weakness were made strong, waxed 
valiant in fight, turned to flight the armies of the 
aliens," They trusted and were not disappointed. 
It was with the triumphant song of believing praise 
that Jehoshaphat and his army advanced to meet 
the " great multitude" that came against them, 
saying, at the same time, " We have no might 
against this great company," and their faith was 
not in vain. " The Lord set ambushments" against 
the enemy, and "none escaped" (2 Chron. xx). 



THE TRIUMPH OF FAITH. 117 

It was in this faith in the power of God that the 
little band, commissioned to overthrow the kingdom 
of Satan, advanced in later days. They had no 
skill, or power, or wisdom*; they wielded weapons 
which, to the judgment of the men of this world, 
whether Jews or Greeks, were utterly useless ; they 
told a tale concerning "one Jesus," which had been 
crucified, and announcing pardon through Him 
whom "man despised and the nation abhorred," 
they commanded all to repent and believe in Him. 
But, unlikely as the instrumentality seemed to 
touch the heart or change the life, the men who 
used it knew that God had chosen and ordained 
"the foolishness of preaching " to save them that 
believed, and that "there was the hiding of His 
power;" that just as in the ark carried round Jeri- 
cho was manifested the omnipotence that overcame 
every obstacle, so in the story of the love of God 
in Christ there was a might, when preached in de- 
monstration of the Spirit, which no walls of pride 
or sin could withstand ; they were not ashamed of 
the gospel of Christ ; they believed in God ; and 
with the shout of victory they went forward to the 
battle. 

And were they disappointed ? No. It may 
be that many resisted the Holy Ghost, and that 
those who were brought " into captivity to the 
obedience of Christ " were far less numerous than 
those who remained in their enmity to Him. 
But the servants of God knew well that the pur- 



118 THE TRIUMPH OF FAITH. 

poses of tlieir Master could not fail to be accom- 
plished ; that wherever there were hearts which 
He marked out from all eternity as destined to be 
His dwelling-place, the 'gospel must take effect ; 
and therefore they could not be disappointed, 
their faith could not be shaken. " In much as- 
surance " they preached the Word, and many be- 
came " obedient to the faith." 

And it is the men who, in full reliance that 
God will honour His word, keep His promise, and 
accomplish His purpose of salvation, have gone 
forth with no weapon but the " gospel of the ever- 
lasting God," who have in all ages u subdued king- 
doms, obtained promises, and turned to flight the 
armies of the aliens." Weak in numbers, but 
strong in faith, they preached Christ, and the 
strongholds fell. 

Brethren in the Lord, fellow-soldiers of Christ, 
herein lies our strength still. The power of God 
becomes ours by trusting in Him for it, and our 
business, whatever men may think of us, is to go 
forward, lifting up Him who has said, " I, if I be 
lifted up, will draw all men unto me." Sounding 
forth, though it be through such unworthy and un- 
fashionable instruments as rams' horns — the weak 
things of this world, — the glorious proclamation of 
the love of God ; uniting, as one man, in the shout 
of triumph, even before the final victory is won; 
believing that God will send forth the mighty 
power of the Holy Ghost while we work and preachy 



THE TBIUMPH OF FAITH. 119 

and that the citadels of self-righteousness, vice, 
sin, worldliness, and Satan shall then become the 
" kingdoms of our Lord and His Christ." 

Lastly, work in patience. Faith and patience go 
together; we are to " be followers of them who, 
through faith and patience, inherit the promises." 
While faith expects the blessing, it nftist yet wait 
the appointed time, and that time is not always, 
nay, not often, known to us. That there is an 
appointed time for each heart to yield to Christ, 
that there is a moment fixed from all eternity when 
the last opposing power shall be brought down, 
and the final purposes of God be accomplished, we 
know well, but when that time is is not revealed. 

The conviction that there is such a moment en- 
courages faith, the uncertainty as to its exact period 
is meant to produce patience, and while we work 
in faith and fight in faith, expecting that u the 
Lord will do great things," we are to work and 
fight in patience, leaving the time in His hands. 

Do we not learn this from the incident before 
us? " By faith the walls of Jericho fell down, 
after they were compassed about seven days" The 
number seven, as we learn from many passages of 
Scripture, is constantly used to describe anything 
to which the idea of fulness or completeness is 
attached. The seven days which the Israelites were 
to compass the city of Jericho was therefore the 
period during which the patience of the people was 
to be exercised, and at the end of which, their 



120 THE TRIUMPH OF FAITH. 

patience having had its " perfect work," their faith 
was to receive the accomplishment of the promise. 
It would, of course, have been as easy for God to 
accomplish the purposed result in one day as in 
seven, but by the latter period faith and patience 
were both tested.* 

But few T^rds are needed here. The lesson is 
taught us again and again, at " sundry times " and 
in " divers manners." None of the great results 
which need Omnipotence itself to produce them 
are accomplished without patience on the part of 
the human instruments which are employed by 
divine wisdom in the process by which they are 
wrought out. Does faith expect that the insignifi- 
cant seed which is cast into the ground, covered 
over and abandoned, shall, by the exercise of an 
unseen but almighty power, spring up into luxuriant 
life, and " yield seed to the sower and bread to the 
eater ? " Then patience also tarries the appointed 
time, for, " Behold, the husbandman waiteth for 
the precious fruit of the earth, and hath long 
patience for it, until he receive the early and latter 
rain." And the patience does not contradict the 
faith, and the faith would be incomplete in its opera- 
tion without the patience. Such a period of waiting 
is appointed, before which it is not the will of God 
that the harvest should be gathered; it would not 
be faith but presumption to expect it earlier ; and 
the patience which was not preceded by the sowing, 

* Compare 1 Sam. 8, and xiii. 8. 



THE TRIUMPH OF FAITH. 121 

winch is the exercise of faith — faith in action— 
would be a hopeless and fruitless waiting. So the 
faith and the patience work together. 

And thus is it also in spiritual warfare and 
spiritual husbandry. As it was needful that the 
seven days should elapse before Jericho's walls were 
to fall, as days and nights and months must pass 
before the seed can be quickened, and grow, and 
blossom, and bear its ripened fruit, so has God 
ordained that the soldier of Jesus Christ shall 
fight the good fight of faith in patient waiting for 
the moment of victory; and that the labourer in 
the great harvest field shall tarry in trustful expec- 
tation till the seed of the Word shall bring forth its 
fruit in the conversion and salvation of the souls 
in which it has been sown. 

We are sometimes apt to forget this and to be 
disheartened, because the great results which we 
long for and expect do not immediately follow. 
Not that I would for a moment discourage the 
greatest expectations of present victory. Our ex- 
pectations are not half, not a thousandth part, large 
enough. Few go forth with the shout of faith, 
looking for the walls of Satan's power to come 
down with a crash, and few therefore see such 
glorious results. But, at the same time, let us not 
lose sight of the fact that God alone knows the 
exact moment when His word shall triumph over 
the power of the enemy in this or that soul. The 
seven days that elapsed before the first blast with 



122 THE TRIUMPH OF FAITH. 

the rams' horns and the final shout that rent the 
air, did not make the result one whit less certain. 
The promise of the Gf-od that cannot lie held just as 
good as though the walls had fallen on the first 
day, and each passing minute brought the hour of 
victory nearer. 

God's delays are not denials. When Abraham 
had got the promise of God he believed it, though 
years intervened between its utterance and its 
accomplishment; but " after he had patiently en- 
dured, he obtained the promise." And it is no 
less our part and our privilege to wait God's time, 
not in faithless despair, but in patient hope, using 
the means, clinging to the promise, looking for 
the fulfilment at the moment when He sees best 
to give the blessing which He has bid us expect. 
Therefore, " let patience have her perfect work." 
True faith can still say, "My times are in Thy 
hand;" and it is still " good that a man should 
both hope and quietly wait for the salvation of the 
Lord;"* for "he that believeth shall not make 
haste." 

* This passage affords no warrant for that faithless waiting of 
the unconverted heart, which argues that it is useless to seek the 
Lord, because the time and working of salvation are in His hand. 
God's command to "all men everywhere is to repent now" (Acts 
xvii, 30) ; and He gives no promise of salvation at any other 
moment than the present,—" while it is called to-day.'" The teach- 
ing of the above Scripture is that believers in trial should quietly 
wait the time of God's deliverance; and it applies similarly to those 
who are working for Him in His vineyard. 



THE TRIUMPH OF FAITH. 123 

Do these pages come Tinder the eyes of those who 
are earnestly longing to see the fruit of their labour 
in the €onversion of those before whom they have 
set the gospel, and in whose hearts they daily hope to 
see the pulling down of strongholds and submission 
to the righteousness of God? Be not discouraged. 
Are you a preacher of the word, a Sunday-school 
teacher, a tract distributor, a visitor to the sick, a 
parent, a husband, a wife or child seeking the 
establishment of the kingdom of the Lord Jesus 
in the hearts of those near or dear to you? Re- 
member the seven days round Jericho. This is 
" written for our learning, that we, through 
patience and comfort of the Scriptures, might have 
hope." Use the means, the daily exhibition of Jesus 
in your walk, the daily testimony to Jesus with 
your lips; expect the putting forth of the power 
of God, and the seventh day shall assuredly come. 
He who gives the temporal harvest " to the 
just and the unjust" will hear the cry and bles3 
the believing labours of " His own elect," the 
Israel of God, though He may try the faith which 
He himself has given. Soon " the fortress of the 
high fort of the walls shall He bring down, lay 
low, and bring to the ground, even to the dust," 
and the song of triumphant praise shall burst from 
your lips, " Thanks be unto God, who giveth us 
the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ." 

The promise is still true. "In due season we 
shall reap if we faint not, and the command still 



124 THE TRIUMPH OF FAITH. 

runs thus, u Cast thy bread upon the waters, and 
thou shalt find it after many days" Be not dis- 
heartened because, in the exercise of perfect wisdom, 
God tarries and your faith is tried ; let not your 
faith fail because enemies scoff, and the opposition 
seems as determined andstrong on the very morning, 
nay, on the afternoon of the seventh day, as it was 
when you first began your work. Run the race 
that is set before you " with patience, looking unto 
Jesus ; " never mind though, like the Israelites, you 
go over the old ground day after day, and even seven 
times in one day. The Captain of your salvation 
cannot be defeated in the end; the counsel of 
the Lord shall stand. He declares, ■' So shall my 
word be that goeth forth out of my mouth: it shall 
not return unto me void ; but it shall accomplish 
that which I please, and it shall prosper in the 
thing whereto I-sent it." The towers shall speedily 
fall, and you shall see many a fair spot of ground, 
once Satan's seat, the possession of Immanuel, 
the Prince of Peace, a place " pleasant for situa- 
tion," where fruits of righteousness shall grow to 
the praise and glory of God. 

But one word more. There is a second but 
important aspect in which the victory over Jeri- 
cho may be regarded, if we consider it as repre- 
senting not only the triumph of the soldiers of 
Christ over the power that stops the progress of 
the gospel in the world, but also the conquest of 
those inward strongholds in the believer's own 



THE TRIUMPH OF FAITH. 125 

heart, of the existence of which each child of God 
is painfully conscious. 

For there are "high things that exalt themselves 
against the knowledge of God," still in the recesses 
of the heart where Jesus is nevertheless loved and 
worshipped. Day by day, it may be, increasing 
light reveals the pride, self-will, and various forms 
of sin that lurk in the corners of the heart, and 
every believer is fully aware that "the flesh lusteth 
against the spirit," that there is a tendency in the 
old* nature to reassert itself, and to rebel against 
the law of God. 

There is thus an inward warfare, on which I will 
not dwell, for the successful prosecution of which 
the same means are alone of any avail which are 
used in the outward conflict. There are victories 
to be won in secret, where no eye of man can 
pierce and no voice of man applaud, far more 
glorious than the most exalted triumphs which 
earthly kings and commanders ever gained, " for 
He that ruleth his spirit is better than he that 
taketh a city." The same means are prescribed. 
Christ crucified and exalted must by faith be 
brought to bear upon the opposition, whatever 
form it may assume; Christ, "the power of God," 
is the only power by which self and sin can be 
brought low, even to the dust. 

Let us then bring Him, as Ave may, into every 
conflict — great and small. It may be against the 
world in Egypt, the flesh in the wilderness, or the 



126 THE TRIUMPH OF FAITH. 

devil in " heavenly places " that we have to fight. 
The same power is always available; and in that 
inward struggle with " fleshly lusts that war 
against the soul," we may rely on the promise, 
" They that war against thee shall be as nothing, 
and as a thing of nought, for the Lord thy God 
will hold thy right hand, saying unto thee, Fear 
not, I will keep thee." Though absent in body, 
He is with us "for ever" by His Spirit, "the Holy 
Ghost, the Comforter," and " He is able to subdue 
all things unto Himself." Let us use the almighty 
power thus bestowed, and if used in "faith and 
patience," we shall find that inward as well as 
outward victories are won, and shall be able to 
say, "Now, thanks be unto God, who always 
cause th us <to triumph in Christ." 



VI. 

DESTRUCTION WITHOUT FAITH. 

tc The wrath of God comMh on the children of dis- 
obedience" — -Col. iii. 6. 
" They utterly destroyed all that were in the city" 

— Joshua vi. 21. 

We may proper! y, in the light which the epistle 
to the Ephesians throws upon the book of Joshua, 
take Jericho in its collective aspect as a type of 
the kingdom of this world, ruled over by the 
enemy of God and His people, the place where the 
principalities and powers resist to the last, and 
contest every inch of ground with Him to whom it 
all by right of creation and redemption belongs ; 
and, at the same time, as a type or picture of the 
individual heart where Satan reigns, until its de- 
fences are overthrown by the power of the gospel, 
and which then becomes part of the garden of the 
Lord. 

But these views of Jericho do not exhaust the 
lessons which it contains. Besides its collective 
character as a city, the individuals of which the 
city was composed are presented to us in Scripture 



128 DESTRUCTION WITHOUT FAITH. • 

as exhibiting the characteristic of those who finally 
perish — namely, unbelief. For we read, " By faith 
the harlot Rahab perished not with them that 
believed not'" (Heb. xi. 31); and thus, while 
Rahab is adduced as a striking instance of a 
sinner saved by faith, her fellow-townsmen are, on 
the other hand, described as u they that believed 
not," and who therefore " perished." 

Their character, as finally impenitent and un- 
believing, and their fate of utter destruction, 
become, therefore, most deeply solemn and im- 
portant when viewed as the foreshadowing in 
Old Testament picture of those who, because they 
" know not G-od, and obey not the gospel of our 
Lord Jesus Christ, shall be punished with ever- 
lasting destruction from the presence of the Lord, 
and from the glory of His power, when He shall 
come," the seventh and last trump proclaiming 
that the day of grace is ended; and when the 
" shout" and "the voice of the archangel," louder 
ten thousand times than the shout at which the 
walls of Jericho fell, shall proclaim that all resist- 
ance is fruitless, that the Lord God Almighty has 
taken to Him His great power and reigned, that 
His " wrath is come, and the time to destroy them 
that destroy the earth." 

It is the more important not to overlook this 
aspect of the destruction of Jericho, since it has 
now become a common thing, as it was prophesied 
it would become, to question the reality of a 



DESTRUCTION WITHOUT FAITH. 129 

judgment to come, to assert the in consistency of 
the everlasting destruction of the ungodly with 
the character of a God of love and mercy, and 
even to scoff at the announcement of the return of 
the Lord Jesus " to execute judgment upon all." 

Xot that these solemn truths rest for their credi- 
bility upon the typical character of the fate that 
befell the inhabitants of Jericho. History and 
prophecy, parable and type, promises and threaten- 
ings combine to set them forth. They are con- 
spicuous in law, psalms, and prophets. Moses and 
Christ, law and gospel, equally declare them. The 
deluged " world of the ungodly," the burned cities 
of the plain, the destruction of Egypt, Babylon, 
Nineveh, and Jerusalem, the utterances of devils 
and the conscience of the sinner — -all testify that 
" God is a righteous judge," and that, though 
long-suffering and plenteous in mercy, " He hath 
prepared His throne for judgment." 

But we cannot afford to pass by any of the 
illustrations of such truths which God has given us 
in his Word, especially when underlined, as it were, 
for our consideration, by the commentary given us 
by the Holy Ghost in the New Testament ; and 
we shall accordingly do well to ponder for a short 
time the very striking lessons which are brought 
before us in the conduct and fate of the inhabi- 
tants of Jericho. 

We need not dwell long on the fact that they 
were notorious sinners, and that their disregard of 

I 



130 DESTRUCTION WITHOUT FAITH. 

all restraint had lasted for centuries. Four hun- 
dred and thirty years before the redemption of Israel 
out of Egypt, God had declared His knowledge of 
the extreme sinfulness of the people of Caanan, 
when He promised Abraham that He would bring 
his seed into the land after four generations, for 
He said, u The iniquity of the Amorites is not yet 
full." The " doings of the land of Caanan " were 
such as called for judgment as loudly as the sins 
of Sodom and Gomorrah. Their flagrant and out- 
rageous sins were held up before the Israelites as 
crimes to be abhorred ; and the most solemn 
warnings were given to them on the subject. 
" Defile not ye yourselves in any of these things : 
for in all these the nations are defiled which I 
cast out before you. And the land is defiled : 
therefore I do visit the iniquity thereof upon it, 
and the land itself vomiteth out her inhabitants " 
(Lev. xviii. 24, 25). They were deeply involved 
in the guilt of dealing with evil spirks, of which 
it was said, " For all that do these things are an 
abomination unto the Lord : and because of these 
abominations the Lord thy God doth drive them 
out from before thee " (Deut. xviii. 12). 

They were thus living without fear of God or 
man, wholly given up to " work all uncleanness 
with greediness," and the last verses of the 1st 
chapter of the epistle to the Romans no doubt 
accurately describe the " things worthy of death," 
in which these inhabitants of one of the fairest 



DESTRUCTION WITHOUT FAITH. 131 

spots of earth, " the glory of all lands/' had plea- 
sure. 

And in this course they persisted for more 
than four hundred years, in spite of the long-suffer- 
ing of God, who was " not willing that any should 
perish, but that all men should come to repentance." 
Year after year their fertile land, watered with the 
dew and rain of heaven, yielded its abundant 
harvests; their cornfields, and their oliveyards, 
were fruitful beyond imagination ; their grapes of 
Eschol were such that two men could only carry 
one cluster ; they " ate bread without scarceness ; " 
out of their hills they dug brass, and tkeir very 
stones were iron. It was " a land of wheat, and 
barley, and vines, and fig-trees, and pomegranates ; 
a land of oil-olive, and honey " (Deut. viii. 8) ; a 
land which Jehovah cared for, and on which His 
eyes rested always u from the beginning of the 
year even unto the end of the year'' (Deut. xi. 12), 

Yet all these mercies, this gracious providence, 
this goodness of God, failed to lead them to re- 
pentance. " They glorified Him not as God, 
neither were thankful, but became vain in their 
imaginations, and their foolish heart was dark- 
ened." "He left Himself not without witness," 
in their midst, " in that He did good, and gave 
them ram from heaven, and fruitful seasons, filling 
their hearts with food and gladness.'' But in vain. 
He spake unto them in their prosperity, but they said, 
"We will not hear" (Jer. xxii. 21). " Because 



132 DESTRUCTION WITHOUT FAITH. 

sentence against an evil work was not executed 
speedily, therefore the hearts " of these inhabi- 
tants of Jericho were "fully set in them to do evil " 
(Eccles. viii. 11). No nations on earth were more 
favoured, none appear to have abused the gifts 
and long-sufferings of God more persistently. 

They had heard of His judgments ; they had 
had amongst them His faithful servants. Abra- 
ham, Isaac, and Jacob had dwelt in their midst. 
The altar of the father of the faithful, the friend of 
God, had been erected in various spots of their 
country as he moved up and down in it, dwelling 
in tabernacles, and his pure worship of the only 
true God was not unknown to them. But the sins 
of the adjoining cities of the plain found ready 
imitators, and they eagerly ran after their abomi- 
nations. In vain did the sudden and fearful over- 
throw of Sodom and Gomorrah appeal to their 
consciences ; though scarce a day's journey from 
their walls, their fate, " making them an ensample 
unto them that hereafter should live ungodly," de- 
terred them not from following in their footsteps. 
The arm of a God of judgment was stretched out, 
but they would not see it ; His voice spake loudly 
to them in the terrible # storm of fire and brimstone 
which overwhelmed their neighbours, but they 
hearkened not. 

Four hundred years and more rolled on; they 
were "filling up the measure of their iniquity." 
No other judgments fell on the land. All things 



DESTRUCTION WITHOUT FAITH. 133 

continued as they were; the bountiful band of 
God, who " maketh His sun to rise on the evil and 
on the good, and sendeth His rain on the just and 
on the unjust," supplying with unfailing regularity 
all their wants. Their " houses " were " safe from 
fear ; the rod of God was not upon them." " He 
filled their houses with good things." But 
neither mercies nor judgments touched their seared 
consciences, and their sins, like their walls, 
reached " up to heaven." 

At last a rumour reached them from the shores 
of a distant sea which roused alarm. Perhaps 
they had heard in days long gone by from the lips 
of Abraham, Isaac, or Jacob that the land in 
which they dwelt was given by " Jehovah, the 
the most high God, the possessor of heaven and 
earth," unto the descendants of the Hebrew 
strangers, and that at some future time they were 
to inherit it and expel them ; but Abraham and 
Isaac had died : the famine had driven their de- 
scendants into Egypt, and though the funeral of 
Jacob at "the threshing floor of Atad, beyond 
Jordan," may have awakened a passing recollection 
of what they had heard, they only looked on it as 
"a grievous mourning to the Egyptians;" the 
lapse of four centuries gradually obliterated any Tra- 
dition that might exist on, the subject. It doubtless 
was occasionally whispered, as they passed the cave 
of Machpelah, that to him whose bone? lay there be- 
longed the fee simple of the land, and legends of his 



134 DESTRUCTION WITHOUT FAITH. 

mighty victory over the "king of nations " and his 
confederates still lingered amongst them. But as 
nothing more was heard of the Hebrews, save as 
some "merchantmen, Midianites," might mention 
that they had fallen into low estate in Egypt, and 
had become a down -trodden race of slaves, without 
power or spirit, all apprehension probably died 
away, and the " inward thought " of the dwellers in 
Jericho and the cities of the land was that they 
should " continue for ever." Their riches were 
great, their fortresses enormously strong; there 
were giants among them, and they could afford to 
treat with unconcern the fading tradition that told 
any other tale than that of increasing prosperity 
and power. 

At length it was reported that the descendants of 
the man who but a few generations ago had dwelt 
in their land — rich in flocks and herds it is true — - 
but having no inheritance there, " no, not so much 
as to set his foot on," abiding in his tent, and 
rearing his lonely altar to Jehovah wherever he 
rested, had multiplied exceedingly; that though 
they had left Canaan but seventy persons, they had 
become marvellously numerous, arousing by their 
numbers the fear of the rulers of Egypt; that 
persecution and the slaughter of their male chil- 
dren failed to check their rapid increase ; that " the 
more the Egyptians afflicted them, the more they 
multiplied and grew." They heard that one night 
this persecuted people, deprived though they were of 



DESTRUCTION WITHOUT FAITH. 135 

means of resistance, unarmed and unorganised, had 
risen up as one man ; that men, women, and 
children, with " not one feeble person among their 
tribes" — they had marched forth to regain their 
liberty; that the hand of the oppressor was power- 
less to stay them; that in that very night a terrible 
and unparalleled catastrophe fell upon the land 
of Egypt, for death had visited every house, from 
the palace of the king to the cottage of the peasant; 
that " there was a great cry in Egypt, for there was 
not a house where there was not one dead." 

It was, moreover, specially reported how that 
when awaking from his terror and stupor the ruler 
of that land arose, and with all the flower and 
might of his army pursued the fugitives to 
bring them back to bondage, and when the waters 
of the Red Sea appeared to aid his purpose by bar- 
ring the way of the Israelites, a strong east wind 
had " divided the sea, whose waves roared," that a 
path was made through the deep, " the waters being 
a wall unto Israel on their right hand and on their 
left ; " that they passed over safely, and that their 
pursuers, hastening to overtake them, were over- 
whelmed by the sea u returning to its strength, and 
sank like lead in the mighty waters." In this last 
and marvellous event, the inhabitants of Canaan 
were compelled to recognise the hand of that God 
whom Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob had worshipped. 
They saw the interference of Him who had made " the 
sea and all that therein is;" they acknowledged, 



136 DESTRUCTION WITHOUT FAITH. 

like the magicians of Egypt, that this was " the 
finger of God." They knew that at last, after 
centuries of delay, Jehovah was arising, that His 
enemies were being scattered, and that they that 
hated or opposed Him were compelled to flee before 
Him. One of themselves confessed the fact, 
whc/a she said, " We have heard how Jehovah dried 
tip the water of the Red Sea for you when ye came 
out of Egypt." And she added how the vic- 
tories over the nations that dwelt on the other side 
of Jordan had brought dismay and terror into the 
hearts of the dwellers in Jericho, saying, " As 
soon as we had heard these things, our hearts did 
melt, neither did there remain any more courage 
in any man, because of you ; for the Lord your God, 
He is God in heaven above, and in earth beneath" 
(Joshua ii. 11). 

Nor was this all ; they saw His works. A fresh 
marvel took place under their very walls, which 
exhausted any courage that might have remained 
in them, and should have brought them to repent- 
ance. They may have hoped that, as the torrent 
of the Jordan rolled impetuously between their city 
and the advancing hosts of Israel, they might be 
able to bar the progress of so great a multitude, 
which could only cross the fords at that time of the 
year with great difficulty. The two spies might 
be able to pass unobserved and unhindered, but 
surely they must have thought it impossible that 
so large a host could cross without occupying so 



DESTRUCTION WITHOUT FAITH. 137 

many days in the passage that their attempt might 
easily be frustrated by but a small number of the 
" mighty men of valour " that formed the garrison 
of Jericho. But what happened ? What was the 
sight that met the gaze of any of the dwellers in 
that city who, impelled by curiosity, strolled to the 
banks of the river to look upon the Hebrew pil- 
grims encamped upon the other side, or who 
watched their movements from the battlements ? 
They look, and behold a little band of men, not 
equipped for a battle, or even stripped to ford the 
river, but clad in flowing priestly robes, emerge 
from the camp of Israel, and bearing upon their 
shoulders a heavy object, covered with a cloth of 
blue, advance tow r ard the torrent at the very spot 
where, swollen with the heavy rains of spring, it 
overflowed all its banks, and apparently defied all 
passage. They come to its very brink, and as 
"the feet of the priests that bare the ark were 
dipped in the brim of the w r ater, the waters, 
which came down from above, stood, and rose up 
upon an heap ; and those that came down failed, 
and were cut off." Jordan flees back, the waters 
recede before the advancing priests, and as they 
reach the Wntre of the river's bed, a broad path 
lies open from shore to shore ! The mighty host 
of Israel follows by its tribes, and men, women, 
and children go " through the flood on foot," and 
pass " clean over Jordan." Then, — when every soul 
is safe in the land of Canaan, the priests come 



138 DESTRUCTION WITHOUT FAITH. 

up last of all, bearing the ark, — "then the waters 
of Jordan returned to their place, and overflowed 
all his banks, as they did before." 

Oh, surely, as the dwellers in Canaan beheld 
that wondrous sight, they must have felt a solemn 
awe creeping over them ! What mysterious power 
could this be that was thus subduing the elements ? 
What secret but mighty influence was contained in 
that little object, covered with "cloth of blue," that 
those white-robed men bore upon their shoulders ? 
Who was the God that was fighting for these de- 
scendants of Abraham ? Could they hope to succeed 
behind their walls, when seas and rivers fled at the 
presence of the Hebrews' God, and when the giant 
cities of " Og, the king of Bashan, and Sihon, king 
of the Amorites," fell before Him ? 

We know that thoughts of this kind passed 
through their minds. The power and judgments 
of God were being made manifest, and the sinners 
of Jericho trembled. . They saw " the hand of the 
Lord, that it was mighty." " And it came to pass, 
when all the kings of the Amorites, which were on 
the side of Jordan westward, and all the kings of 
the Canaanites, which were by the sea, heard that 
the Lord had dried up the waters of Jordan from 
before the children of Israel, until we were passed 
over, that their heart melted; neither was there spirit 
in them anymore, because of the children of Israel" 
(Jos. v. 1). But did all this lead them to repent- 
ance? No! the tidings of His judgments, the sight 



DESTKUCTION WITHOUT FAITH. 139 

of His power, failed to touch the hearts that centuries 
of patient long-suffering and rich blessing had not 
availed to soften. They believed, but it was not 
the faith of repentance and submission ; it was but 
the faith of devils, who " believe and tremble." 
As if aware that the day of grace was passed, and 
that there now remained nothing but a " fearful 
looking for of judgment," they only sought to 
prolong their resistance as much as possible, with 
the despairing feeling of those who in later days 
cried, "Art Thou come to torment us before the 
time?" They determined to hold out to the last, 
and to resist every effort on the part of Israel to 
effect an entrance into their city. 

This is evident from their behaviour with regard 
to the two spies who had come to " view the land, 
even Jericho," and who went to EahaVs house and 
lodged there. The moment the king of Jericho 
heard of their presence he sought to slay them. 
He sent to arrest them, and when they could not 
be found, the messengers pursued after them in 
the direction they were supposed to have taken, 
even to the fords of Jordan. There was thus a 
determination to resist the very least attempt on 
the part of the servants of the true God to obtain 
a footing in the city; the presence of even two, 
Israelites was sufficient to awaken the fears of the 
king, and to rouse the powers that ruled the place 
energetically to crush the smallest appearance of 
those w T ho were on the side of the God of Abraham. 



140 DESTRUCTION WITHOUT FAITH. 

This probably took place but a few days before 
the passage of the Jordan, and the attitude of re- 
sistance became more resolute as the hour drew 
nigh for all resistance to be unavailing. Up to the 
time of the passage, it appears, from the entrance 
of the spies, that communication with, the sur- 
rounding country was possible, but from that 
moment the strictest watch was kept. " Jericho 
was straitly shut up, none went out, and none 
came in." Thenceforward the opposition of the 
guilty city to the armies — to the power of the living 
God — became of the most intense character. The 
resolve was made, and the position taken up was 
unflinchingly maintained ; they would fight to the 
last. They trusted in their strong walls and gates ; 
there was their confidence placed, and in their own 
might, " their mighty men of valour." The de- 
fences their own hands had raised, the power of 
their own right arms, were the grounds of their 
reliance ; in other words, they trusted in their own 
works. 

And this was only natural. What, unless 
supernatural means were brought to bear upon 
them, could a host of pilgrims, numerous indeed, 
but encumbered with a vast proportion of women 
and children, and unjjrovided with any warlike 
appliances, at least with none fitted to attack such 
fortifications as those of Jericho, hope to accom- 
plish? And if, as the recollection of the wonders 
of the Red Sea, or of the Jordan, or of the conquest 



DESTRUCTION WITHOUT FAITH. 141 

of Bashan and Gilead revived, the spirits of the 
garrison sank, a survey of their goodly bastions 
and lofty walls doubtless served, at least in some 
measure, to sustain their confidence. Such works 
as these, they would think, would surely stand them 
in some stead, and even if they failed to ensure 
ultimate victory, would, at any rate, enable them 
to make such a resistance as would obtain good 
terms whenever it became actually necessary to 
capitulate. 

As the six days, during which the Israelites 
made their circuit of the city, passed away without 
any apparent result, it is probable that their confi- 
dence revived; the curious procession of the priests, 
a whole army marching and countermarching for 
six days, and leaving off only where it began, the 
blasts with the rams' horns, commanding no attack, 
and ending in nothing but empty sounds, if they at 
first awakened their apprehension, must at last 
have almost excited their ridicule ; and they pro- 
bably said, like Sanballat and Tobiah in a later 
day, " What do these feeble Jews? " 

But their confidence was misplaced, and their 
contempt mistaken ; their strongholds were about 
to crumble into dust, and that which was weak 
and foolish in their eyes was destined to overcome 
the mighty. " The foolishness of God is wiser 
than men, and the weakness of God is stronger than 
men." No prolonged siege was to afford them 
either final victory or partial deliverance; "a 



142 DESTRUCTION WITHOUT FAITH. 

short work" was about to be made by the God of 
judgment. They had misused centuries of mercy 
and long-suffering, and had hardened their hearts 
as the tokens of judgment darkened the horizon ; 
the day of grace was past and the day of judgment 
had set in ; the word was to be fulfilled that " He 
that being often reproved, hardeneth his neck, shall 
suddenly be destroyed, and that without remedy " 
(Prov. xxix. 1). 

They were utterly destroyed. " The dawning 
of the day," the seventh day, arrived. To their 
surprise, and perhaps to their further amusement, 
the city was compassed seven times ; no further 
sign was given, when, all of a sudden, as at the 
close of the seventh circuit the monotonous blast 
of the trumpets pealed from the lips of the priests, 
a mighty, appalling, overwhelming shout burst 
from the hitherto silent thousands of Israel, the 
hoarse roar of nearly two million voices rent the 
air, and with a crash that shook the earth, " the 
wall of the city fell down flat;" their boasted 
bulwarks were levelled with the dust; " the people 
went up into the city, every man slaying before 
him, and they took the city ! " " And they 
utterly destroyed all that were in the city, both 
men and women, young and old, with the edge 
of the sword. 'I The despisers of mercy, the 
resisters of God, perished ; the judgment which 
they feared came upon them; they fell by their 
own iniquity. Their works, their valour, were 



DESTRUCTION WITHOUT FAITH. 143 

powerless to withstand Jehovah when He arose to 
judgment. 

And why did this awful fate, this utter destruc- 
tion, overtake them ? Was it because they were 
sinners ? In one sense, yes ; for " because of 
these things cometh the wrath of God upon the 
children of disobedience." Yet since some of 
them, as guilty as the rest, were saved, it was 
not their sins alone that brought destruction 
upon them. Notwithstanding their sins, they 
might, like Rahab the harlot, their townswoman, 
have been saved, had they sought for mercy, and 
trusted in Him who was not u willing that any 
should perish." But they took no such course. 
Steeling their hearts against the warnings that 
alarmed them, "stifling their convictions, trusting 
in their defences, the works of their own hands, 
they " believed not" and continuing among the 
unbelievers, the wrath of God came upon them 
to the uttermost, making them " an ensample to 
all who should hereafter live ungodly." 

The picture is complete. Is it not a solemn 
one ? The character, conduct, and fate of this 
ungodly and unbelieving people are a striking 
photograph, drawn by the very hand of God, and 
exhibiting, line for line, the features, life, and end 
of those who finally perish through unbelief. 

Let me beseech you, reader, to ponder these 
things. You may be, indeed, one who, having 
trusted in Jesus, are already " delivered from the 



144 DESTKCJCTION WITHOUT FAITH. 

wrath to come," for " there is no condemnation to 
them which are in Christ Jesus." There are, 
nevertheless, lessons you cannot afford to disre- 
gard ; for though, through the mercy of God, the 
fate of "the unbelieving" can never be yours, 
you still live among them ; you are left here to 
warn them of the end of the ungodly ; and you are 
surrounded by a world that scoffs at the thought 
of coming judgment, and because it is delayed in 
mercy, cries, "Where is the God of judgment ?" 
It is well for you to strengthen your faith in the 
solemn realities which God has revealed, by atten- 
tively considering the proofs which He has afforded 
in His Word. 

And if, perchance, you who read these pages 
are still amongst the unsaved, if you are not 
yet among the Israel of God, trusting only to 
the blood of Christ, does it not much more con- 
cern you to mark well the characteristics of those 
who, in spite of mercies and judgments, finally 
perish with an everlasting destruction ? Oh, surely 
it does ; and I therefore pray you to bear with 
me a little longer, while I trace the leading 
features of those of whom God speaks in His 
Word as " the lost" that you may be led, be- 
fore it be too late, to see the path on w r hich you 
are treading, and ere the blast of the seventh 
trumpet peals in your ears, or the summons of the 
hand of death removes you from the world where 
mercy may still be found, may flee to Him who 



DESTRUCTION WITHOUT FAITH. 145 

came to seek and to save that which was lost, and 
who still says. i; Him that coineth unto me, I will 
in no wise cast out." 

We may notice the following main charac- 
teristics of those that perish, from the history of 
the inhabitants of Jericho, which we have been 
considering : — 

They that perish, perish because of their sins. 
It is quite true that unbelief is in one sense the 
cause of eternal ruin to them that are lost, since 
we read that ,; he that believeth not is condemned 
already, because he hath not believed in the name 
of the only begotten Son of God ; " and that " he 
that believeth not shall not see life, but the wrath 
of God abideth on hiin." Unbelief is their ruin, 
because it rejects the only way of salvation ; it 
refuses Christ ; it accepts not God's pardon in 
God's way — through a crucified Saviour. Unbe- 
lief is, iudeed, the crowning, the damning sin, for 
it despises the Son of God, and just as a drowning 
man is lost, if he refuses to trust in the lifeboat, 
because of his want of faith, so a perishing sinner 
perishes if he rejects the Almighty hand held out 
to him, and the Almighty love that is ready to 
receive him. Trusting in Jesus, he would have 
been delivered from his sins ; doubting Him, re- 
fusing Him, he continues in them ; and thus his 
sins, which might have been forgiven him. remain 
upon him, and he perishes because of his sins. 

Ohj remember this ! No one will ever be able 

K 



146 



DESTRUCTION WITHOUT FAITH. 



to say that it was the fault of any one but himself 
that he is lost. " Thou hast destroyed thyself" 
is the charge of which one day he must acknow- 
ledge the truth. "Thou hast fallen by thine 
iniquity/' is true of every sinner. He has com- 
muted " such things " as are "worthy of death," 
and sooner or later must confess to God that 
he receives the due reward of his deeds. The 
lips of many are now full of excuses, they lay 
the blame upon others, upon their circumstances, 
upon their nature (and thus on their Creator), but 
not upon themselves. But there must come a time, 
— and happy is it if it comes in the day of grace, 
in which confession ensures pardon,- — when "every 
mouth will be stopped, and all the world become 
guilty before God." No one who finally perishes 
will be alle to say that it was anything but his own 
sins which brought him to destruction. As judg- 
ment came on the inhabitants of Jericho to the 
uttermost when they had filled up the measure of 
their iniquity; so is it because of sin, only because 
of sin, sin culminating in the persistent rejection 
of a divine Saviour, that " the wrath of God 
cometh upon the children of disobedience." 

But, further, they that perish, perish in spite of the 
long-suffering of God. As "the long-suffering of 
God waited in the days of Noah," as He gave the 
dwellers in Jericho more than four hundred years 
to repent and forsake their sins, so, " not willing 
that any should perish, but that all should come to 



DESTRUCTION WITHOUT FAITH. 147 

salvation," He bears with those who, nevertheless, 
M despise the riches of His goodness, forbearance, 
and long-suffering " and ''turn the grace of God 
into lasciviousness." 

Men may say they have had no time, no oppor- 
tunity; but it is a false excuse, and will one day 
be proved to be so. They have had plenty of rime 
to i; repent and turn to God," plenty of time to cry 
for mercy, plenty of time to believe in a Saviour, 
and to accept the gift of pardon through His 
name. Who is there that reads these pages, whose 
conscience does not tell him that ever since he can 
remember anything, he can remember from time 
to time that God's Holy Spirit pleaded and strove 
with him, that warnings and mercies were re- 
peatedly sent to him, and that he had numberless 
opportunities of forsaking his sins and of coming 
to Christ. In childhood, in youth, in the prime of 
life, in declining years, the goodness and forbear- 
ance and long-suffering of God has been extended 
to him. u Daily loaded with benefits," kept alive 
" that he should not go down to the pit," de- 
livered from accidents, restored from illness, sur- 
rounded with mercies, yet slighting, abusing, 
disregarding, it may be, all of them, he was the 
subject of the long-suffering of God. 

Day after day has passed, each one comprising 
hours full of the goodness of God ; years have 
rolled by, each one replete with blessing; time 
has been found for business, for home, for plea- 



148 DESTRUCTION WITHOUT FAITH. 

sure, for the world, for self — bat none for God ; 
yet God spared. He was " slow to anger ; " He 
waited to be gracious ; His long-suffering was sal- 
vation, but the unhappy sinner, blinded by his 
sins, knew not that " the goodness of God leadeth 
to repentance;" because judgment came not, lie 
argued that it never would come, and thus the 
patience and long-suffering of God was wrested by 
him to his own destruction. 

Oh, will not the recollection of years of grace 
be one of the bitterest ingredients in the cup that 
awakened memory will mingle in a world where 
hope never comes, and where the soul that perishes 
will be compelled to say, in words often read, but 
never believed to be applicable to itself, " How 
have I hated instruction, and my heart despised 
reproof; and have not obeyed the voice of my 
teachers, nor inclined mine ear to them that in- 
structed me ! " (Prov. v. 12, 13.) 

Again, they that perish, perish in spite of clear 
knowledge. As the inhabitants of Jericho had heard 
again and again, as w r e have seen, of the power 
and judgment of God against sin, and had in- 
tensified His faithfulness and goodness towards 
them that trusted in Him, so they that are lost 
have had full knowledge, at least in their minds, 
of the character of God's dealings with those who 
serve Him, and with those who serve Him not. 
They hnve had Bibles (for I speak now of those 
who have lived in Christian lands), and they have 



DESTRUCTION WITHOUT FAITH. 149 

rend them ; they have heard of His judgments, and 
seen them ; they have witnessed His mercies, and 
been the subject of them. God has spoken to 
them. Creation and revelation have testified to 
Him ; they have beheld His goodness in the sun- 
shine and the rain ; they have felt His power in 
the thunder and the storm. Conscience has spoken 
within them, confirming the testimony of nature, 
and the truths of the Scriptures. 

Like the ungodly and depraved world described 
in Romans i., they " knew God;" they could not 
help recognising Him, just as the men of Jericho 
knew that " Jehovah was God in heaven above and 
in the earth beneath." But they did not like to 
retain God in their knowledge, and — because not 
received into the heart, but into the head, — that 
knowledge, though it occasionally made them 
tremble, and aroused solemn fears, profited them 
not ; and therefore, knowing that there is a God, a 
Saviour, a heaven, a hell, a judgment to come, and a 
way of salvation, their knowledge is barren, like the 
devil's knowledge, and they perish in spite of it. 

The knowledge they had was enough to have 
saved them. Eahab knew no more than her 
fellow-citizens, but she used that knowledge, while 
they abused it. Oh, will not the knowledge of God, 
which is now brought home to the mind and con- 
science of every one who lives under the sound of 
His word, shine with a terrible light, when it is 
looked back upon from a world of darkness ; and 



150 DESTRUCTION WITHOUT FAITH. 

when it is seen that, rightly used, they who had 
it need not have perished? 

But again, they that perish, perish because they 
stifle convictions. Again and again has the truth 
of God fallen upon their ear, aroused inquiry in 
the mind, and awakened the conscience. Solemn 
thoughts of eternity have forced themselves upon 
the soul ; for a time they have turned from their 
old ways, have endeavoured to lead a new life, but 
as often they have turned back, and the warning' 
voice of conscience which spoke loudly, echoing the 
truth, has been drowned by the " many kinds of 
voices in the w T orld." 

Sometimes a pointed message from the Lord has 
penetrated, like the spies into Jericho, into the 
very heart, and instantly the " strong man armed " 
that rules the sinner has used every means to 
deaden the impression. Business and pleasure, 
cares and joys, have all been brought into requisi- 
tion to obliterate it, and the truth that had almost 
gained a foothold is, if not murdered, banished. 
If some soul-stirring thought has perchance lodged 
an hour or so within the walls, the night is not 
suffered to close without the effort, and, alas ! too 
frequently, the successful effort, to get rid of it. 
A thousand means are ever ready at hand to dissi- 
pate the solemn thought, to silence conscience, to 
stifle conviction ; and at last the final state super- 
venes, when the heart, like Jericho, is " straitly 
shut up," when none come in and none go out. 



DESTRUCTION WITHOUT FAITH. 151 

Oli, fearful condition ! No messenger, no message 
from God permitted to enter; every means of access, 
every gate of the soul jealously, straitly guarded ; 
prejudice, unbelief, love of the world, even re- 
ligion, " falsely so-called," barring the approaches • 
the very subject shunned, the name of Jesus 
avoided, the approaches of the servants of God 
steadily guarded against. And none allowed to 
go out ; every tendency to seek after Grod checked ; 
any rising wish to pray subdued ; any uneasiness of 
heart or conscience instantly quelled ; no communi- 
cation permitted ; all under the power of darkness, 
the prelude of destruction. Such is the terrible con- 
dition of those who perish in spite of long-suffering 
—in spite of knowledge, in spite of convictions. 

Lastly, they that perish, perish because they trust 
in themselves. The dwellers in Jericho placed their 
confidence in their high walls and their mighty 
men of valour; they trusted in themselves and in 
the works of their own hands. So do they who have 
heard of Christ, have stifled their convictions, and 
who finally perish in their sins. Every man that 
trusts not in Jesus puts his confidence in the flesh 
in one way or another. There may be numberless 
ways of doing this, but they all have the same 
result. It is in something connected with their 
own character, feelings, or doings that every soul 
relies that is ultimately lost. 

I do not speak here so much of those who neither 
"profess nor call themselves Christians;" though 



152 DESTRUCTION WITHOUT FAITH. 

even with such their own character and conduct are 
frequently the ground of such hope as they may 
entertain of escape or deliverance in the hour of 
death, and in the day of judgment; but principally 
of those who, having a fear of coming destruction, 
but no submission to or trust in Him who delivers 
from thq wrath to come, busy themselves in erect- 
ing such walls as will, they hope, shelter and save 
them in the end. 

And they are often very earnest in the work. 
The " works of their hands " may present a fair 
and imposing appearance ; as far as man's eye can 
see, their morality may be perfect, their conduct 
blameless, their behaviour irreproachable, their 
discharge of their relative duties in the world 
punctilious and just, and their attention to and 
performance of their religious duties regular and 
earnest. And these things are as " a high wall in 
their own conceit ;" they have constructed with 
such labour and pains, at the expense, it may be, 
of a lifetime, such an edifice of character and con- 
duct that hardly a suspicion enters into their mind 
that their very works, fair and trustworthy though 
they may appear, are the hindrance to their salva- 
tion. Their very religion shuts out Christ. 

We cannot doubt, as before said, that if the men 
of Jericho had abandoned their defences, and, 
like Rahab, had cast themselves upon the mercy 
of Joshua, they would, like her, have been saved. 
But they preferred their own way of salvation, and 



DESTRUCTION WITIIOTJT FAITH. 153 

though it " seemed right" unto them, the "end 
thereof was the ways of death/' The strength of 
their defences blinded and deluded them; they 
vainly thought up to the very last moment that 
they would be saved thereby. And so it is still : 
the abandonment of our own works, efforts, feel- 
ings, conduct, and character, as affording the 
slightest hope of salvation, and unconditional sub- 
mission to the mercy of God in Christ, is the only 
way of salvation ; and such as reject that way, 
and rely on other means, must perish. " There 
is no other name under heaven given among men 
whereby we must be saved." 

In these days, in so-called Christian lands, it is 
principally through reliance on good character and 
good works (though often, it may be, covered with 
the name of Christ) — in fact upon natural religion, 
miscalled Christianity — that men perish. " The 
best I can," is the principal ground of confidence of 
thousands, and although they profess not to trust 
in it, and end their prayers with the words " for 
Christ's sake," as if abandoning any plea connected 
with themselves, " the best I can,"*comes again 
and again to the front, and proves, after all, that 
what they are, or what they have done, affords them 
the most trustworthy hope of salvation. Should the 
suspicion cross their minds that their character and 
conduct is after all imperfect, they hope that the 
deficiency, great or small, will be made up — they 
hardly know how, but somehow or other— by Jesus 



154 DESTRUCTION WITHOUT FAITH. 

Christ. He- must, they know, come in somewhere 
in their scheme of salvation, and they bring Him 
in at the end as a make-weight, but their trust is 
in themselves. 

Such are they that perish, and they perish because 
of unbelief. Christ is not their alone salvation. 
They say practically to " the works of their hands, 
Ye are our gods." The apparent excellency of what 
they have done, and of what they are in the eyes 
of others, blinds and deludes them. Their very 
religion shuts out Christ; they perish because they 
trust in themselves, and put confidence into flesh. 

Lastly, they that perish, perish without remedy. 
" They utterly destroyed all that was in the city." 
The temporal destruction which overwhelmed 
•Jericho was entire and irremediable. Not less 
complete and irreversible is the " everlasting de- 
struction " which will overwhelm those that u know 
not God, and that obey not the gospel of our Lord 
Jesus Christ." There is no escape for those who 
neglect the great salvation which a gracious God 
has provided for all who will accept it. Sin per- 
sisted in, long-suffering abused, judgments slighted, 
convictions quenched, must end in " destruction 
from the presence of the Lord, and from the glory 
of His power." 

That judgment may be long delayed, but it is 
not the lesg sure, " Sentence against an evil 
work" may not be V executed speedily," but it is 
no less certain, In their scoffing denial of the 



DESTRUCTION WITHOUT FAITH. 155 

lessons of past history, and their disbelief in the 
solemn predictions of events yet to come, men, 
"walking after their own lusts," may say, "Where 
is the God of judgment?" " Where is the promise 
of His coming?" and because " He is long-suffering 
to usward, not willing that any should perish, but 
that all should come to repentance," they may 
argue that punishment will never overtake the un- 
godly. But God's threatenings and warnings of 
the destruction of the impenitent are as true as His 
promises of mercy to them that repent. " THE 
DAY OF THE " LORD WILL COME;" the 
"last trump" shall sound; "The hour is coming 
when all that are in the graves shall hear His voice, 
and shall come forth ; they that have done good, 
unto the resurrection of life, and they that have 
done evil, unto the resurrection of damnation" — 

" There shall come a night 
Of such wild affright, 

As none beside shall know ; 
When the heavens shall shake 5 
And the wide earth quake, 
In its last and deepest woe. 

u What horrors shall roll 
O'er the godless soul, 

Waked from its death-like sleep; 
Of all hope bereft, 
And to judgment left, 
For ever to wail and weep. 

41 The terrors of God, 
As an iron rod, 

Shall bruise that cursed seed ; 



156 DESTRUCTION WITHOUT FAITH. 

Who His truth have spurned, 
And never have learned 
The love of the cross to read, 

"The children of day- 
Are summoned away, 

Left — are the children of night ; 
Sealed is their doom, 
For there 's no more room ; 
Filled are the mansions of light. 

" What an awful cry 
Will rend the sky, 

' Open to us, Lord ! * 
Oh, ye sinners, yet 
Ere the door be shut, 
Let that cry in faith be heard." 

How fearfully solemn must have been that 
supreme moment when, as the self-confident sinners 
of Jericho watched the host of Israel marching 1 
round their vaunted walls, they heard, and heard 
for the last time, the blast of the trumpets they 
had despised. The seventh blast pealed forth ; 
the mighty roar, the shout of the many thousands 
of Israel shook the air; the walls came crashing 
to the earth, and the ungodly learned that the 
u wrath of God." was come. Oh, the dismay, 
the terror, the self-accusations, the remorse that 
must then have filled, every breast ! Eepentance 
was too late. They perished, 

The trumpet of God's gracious gospel is sounding 
now 7 , summoning hearts to surrender; each repeated 
invitation, each moment of long-suffering, brings 



DESTRUCTION WITHOUT FAITH. 157 

the end nearer. There will be a "last trump." 
There will be a "shout." Not the trump of earthly 
trumpeters, not the shout of earthly millions. "The 
LORD HIMSELF shall descend from heaven with 
a shouts with the voice of the archangel, and with 
the tramp of God."' Oh, what a sound! Oh, 
what a trumpet blast! If once, as "the voice of 
the trumpet sounded long and waxed louder and 
louder,*' "all the people trembled ;" if once His 
voice shook the earth "at the giving of the law ;" 
what unspeakably awful sounds will fill the uni- 
verse when that moment comes of which " He hath 
promised, saying, Yet once more, I shake not the 
earth only, but also heaven." 

" And the seventh angel sounded ; and there 
were great voices in heaven, saving, The kingdoms 
of this world are become the kingdoms of our 
Lord, and of his Christ; and He shall reign for 
ever and ever'" (Rev. xi. 15). 

Reader, what will that moment be to you ! 
Shall you, as one washed in the blood of the Lamb, 
be able to join in the glorious anthem of praise 
which will then burst forth from the redeemed, 
"We give Thee thanks, Lord God Almighty, 
which art, and wast, and art to come; because Thou 
hast taken to Thee Thy great power, and hast 
reigned " (Rev. xi. 17). Or, shall you be amongst 
those who vainly cry to the mountains and rocks, 
"Fall on us, and hide us from the face of Him that 
Bitteth on the throne, and from the wrath of the 



158 DESTRUCTION WITHOUT FAITH. 

Lamb : for the great day of His wrath is come ; 
and who shall be able to stand?" (Rev. vi. 16, 17.) 
Oh, wait not for that hour to seek salvation ! 
Then it will be too late ; your little day of grace 
may end soon ; already the summons may be on 
the point of issuing forth which shall call you 
hence. " Seek ye the Lord while He may be found, 
call ye upon Him while He is near" (Isaiah lv. 6). 

" In this little while, 
Though never so vile, 
Christ Jesus can make you whole, 

"And then in that night 

Of such wild affright, 
As none beside shall know, 

Ye shall calmly rest 

On His tender breast, 
Far off from the world's last woe." 



VII. 

SAVED BY FAITH. 

" And Joshua saved Rahab the harlot alive" 

— Joshua vi. 25. 
" By faith the harlot Rahab perished not" 

— Heb. xi. 31. 

The history of Jericho, while it affords, as we have 
seen, some of the most instructive lessons of the 
guidance and encouragement of those who, as sol- 
diers of Christ, are engaged in seeking to " subdue 
kingdoms " and to win victories for God, exhibits 
at the same time a most solemn and awful warning 
to those who, despising the " goodness of God which 
leadeth to repentance," " treasure up unto them- 
selves wrath against the day of wrath, and revela- 
tion of the righteous judgment of God, who will 
render to every man according to his deeds." 

But it contains more than this. Beyond its 
lessons for the servants and its warnings for the 
enemies of God, it includes an example of the salva- 
tion of sinners " by faith," which has been specially 
noted in the New Testament for consideration, and 
which is indeed a most conspicuous illustration of 
the grace of God. " Rahab the harlot" is one 



ICO BAYED BY FAITH. 

of those who, like " the woman that was a sinner" 
in later days, like Zaccheus the publican, Saul the 
Pharisee, the thief on the cross, and the jailer at 
Philippi, obtained mercy that they might be " pat- 
terns to them which should hereafter believe on 
Jesus Christ to life everlasting." 

The subject has been dwelt upon indeed so 
often, that there can hardly be a child who is 
not familiar with its outward form, or its inward 
teaching, and I cannot therefore expect, nor in- 
deed do I wish, to bring forward anything new 
connected with it. It is the old, old story of 
a sinner saved by grace through faith ; but as 
long as there are souls unsaved, and the day of 
grace lasts, that story, in all the various ways in 
which our Bible tells it, can never be heard too 
often ; and though the object of the present volume 
is rather to afford help and encouragement to the 
servants of God than to set forth the gospel to 
others, I am glad that it should close with one of 
those lovely unfoldings of the way of salvation, 
in which the Old Testament abounds, and which 
God has so often used to lead souls to Himself. 

Our last study was the fearfully solemn picture 
of the judgment of God falling after years of 
patient forbearance on those who persisted in sin 
and unbelief, — the certain doom of those " who 
knew not God, and obey not the gospel of our 
Lord Jesus Christ." lie who " putteth away all 
the wicked of the earth like dross" will at last 






SAVED BY FAITH. 161 

arise in judgment. " The Son of Man shall send 
forth His angels, and they shall gather out of His 
kingdom all things that offend, and them which do 
iniquity; and shall cast them into a furnace of 
fire ; there shall be wailing and gnashing of teeth" 
(Matt. xiii. 41, 42). "The wicked shall perish at 
the presence of God." Of this terrible fate of the 
ungodly we have the foreshadowing in the destruc- 
tion of the unbelieving inhabitants of Jericho. 

But amongst those inhabitants one family " per- 
ished not." While that judgment was impending, 
and even when the seventh and last trump pealed 
through the air, and the mighty walls of the city 
were laid even with the dust, there was one house- 
hold without fear. The crashing walls, the shout 
of Israel, the hosts of armed men rushing up into 
the defenceless city, brought no terror to one family. 
The " household of faith " could quietly await that 
solemn moment, and could recognise, amid the 
-armies of the living God who were charged with 
the terrible work of destruction all around, the ser- 
vants to whom the dutv was entrusted of convevinof 
them far from the scene of carnage and woe into 
the very camp of Israel, there to dwell in peace. 

And what was the secret of their preservation ? 
A little scarlet line or cord, outside their house, 
hanging from one of their windows down the wall 
of the city, a thing unseen by the inhabitants, and 
if seen, doubtless thought nothing of, was their 
salvation. It was the token between Rahab and 

L 



162 SAVED BY FAITH. 

the leader of the armies of Israel that insured 
perfect safety to her and all her family. While 
Jericho's king, and his mighty men of valour, 
trusted to their walls, apparently so strong and able 
to save them, a poor and despised harlot placed all 
her confidence in an object, which to man's eye and 
judgment could avail absolutely nothing — " a vain 
thing for safety." But they perished, and she and 
all her kindred u perished not with them that be- 
lieved not." 

What a beautiful picture of the " household of 
faith," of those who having " the fear of God, which 
is the beginning of wisdom," seek and find the way 
of salvation, and who, putting their trust in the 
precious blood of Christ, so vividly foreshadowed 
by that scarlet line, and in the word of Him that 
cannot lie, have " boldness in the day of judgment," 
and await that solemn day with the confidence of 
those who know that " there is now no condemna- 
tion to them which are in Christ Jesus." 

Let us then dwell a little on some of the most 
important truths presented to us in this incident of 
Old Testament history, " written for our learning ; " 
and may each reader gain help and encouragement 
therefrom to trust with simplicity and confidence in 
Him who has given a true token of salvation to 
all who flee from the wrath to come to Him as the 
u hope set before" them. 

Rahab was a sinner. There is no doubt about 
this. Her life was an immoral one. The licen- 



SAVED BY FAITH. 163 

tiousness of the inhabitants of Canaan characterised 
her. Old and New Testament speak of her as " the 
harlot Rahab." She was no better than she should 
be. She was no better than others. She was worse 
than some. As regards her character and conduct 
she stood on a level with, if not below, her neigh- 
bours. She was " a woman that was a sinner." 
She belonged to a class that the world generally 
disdains, sometimes pities, but always looks upon 
as several shades worse than other people. Yet she 
was saved while others perished. 

Why is her " unfortunate," her sinful calling so 
conspicuously dwelt upon by the Holy Spirit of 
God ? Would it not have been as well to have 
omitted all mention of her special sin ? Would it 
not have answered the purpose to have cited her as 
a dweller in Jericho, and therefore, doubtless, much 
on a par with father sinners in that city, but to have 
left unnoticed the flagrant immorality of her life. 
No, it would not. He who came " to seek and to 
save that which was lost," would show that the ob- 
jectsof His mission and work were sinners, "dead in 
trespasses and sins," without a vestige of goodness 
in them, without the shadow of a claim to mercy ? 
without any redeeming feature or quality in them; 
and, therefore, He has taken here, as well as else- 
where, for types of His great salvation, those of 
whom none could say that it was anything in them 
that was a predisposing cause why they should be 
saved. He has given us the story of a lost woman 



164 SAVED BY FAITH. 

saved by grace through faith, that all ground of 
hope in any human righteousness might be cut 
away ; that all might see that as there is but one 
way of salvation, one Saviour, all who are saved 
must be saved on the same terms as those on which 
Rahab the harlot was saved; and that those who are 
conscious that they have no righteousness of their 
own, that their character and their conduct, seen by 
the eye of God, is only bad, might be encouraged 
to trust in Him who "justifieth the ungodly" who 
" came into the world to save sinners." 

Yes, much as the natural pride and self-right- 
eousness of the human heart may rebel against it, all 
who will be saved must come on the same ground. 

With their finger on their lips, like the leper of 
old, they must cry, " Unclean, unclean;" like 
Daniel, Peter, Isaiah, and Job, they must confess, 
" My comeliness is turned into corruption" " I am 
a sinful man," " I am a man of unclean lips," " I 
abhor myself," " Our righteousnesses is as filthy 
rags." They must come to the cross, the place of 
death — come to an end of themselves — and then, 
and then only, can they meet with salvation. 

Salvation is only for lost sinners. Nicodemus 
must give up his long life of religious duties ; they 
cannot enable him to " see," much less to " enter 
into the kingdom of God." Saul of Tarsus must 
count his blameless adherence to the law as absolute 
" loss," he must be brought to the very dust. Job, 
the perfect man and upright, must acknowledge that 



SAVED BY FAITH. 1G5 

all his boosted perfections are but tmcleannesses 
iu the sight of an infinitely holy God. Every 
particle of fancied merit, whether of thought, 
word, or deed, must be laid aside, and then Christ 
can be received as a perfect Saviour, a complete 
righteousness. 

This is God's way of salvation. " This man 
receiveth sinners." And He receiveth none else. 
Not sinners who hope to balance at least some of 
their sins with some of their good deeds ; not sin- 
ners who are doing i4 the best they can ; " not sin- 
ners who, while they confess themselves such with 
their lips, yet in their hearts persuade themselves 
that after all they are not so bad as others; not 
such does Jesus Christ receive. For such do not 
receive Him as a Saviour. They cannot truly say — 

" Nothing in my hand I bring, 
Simply to Thy cross I cling. " 

Their hands are full of their own works ; their 
eyes rest upon, and their hearts are occupied with, 
what they are doing in the way of righteousness, or 
what they are feeling towards God. They cannot 
receive Christ, and He will not receive them, for 
they are trampling on His blood. They are " going 
about to establish their own righteousness," and not 
submitting themselves to the righteousness of God. 
But blessed be His name, He does save lost sin- 
ners. " The God of all grace" receives and welcomes 
bad people. He "justifieth the ungodly." Audit 



166 SAVED BY FAITH. 

is only lost, bad, ungodly people whom He does 
save. Badness is the only qualification for salva- 
tion that a sinner must possess. No other pos- 
session can render him a fit subject for the saving 
mercy of God. He need not have one particle of 
goodness, for it is only persons that have not one 
atom of natural or acquired goodness whom God 
saves through Jesus Christ. " Christ died for the 
ungodly ;" u while we were yet sinners, Christdiedfor 
us." This is the only plea connected with myself 
that can entitle me to salvation — that I am a sin- 
ner ; for " Jesus Christ came into the world to save 
sinners." Sinfulness, sinfulness alone, renders 
me a proper subject for salvation. Of this glorious 
truth, " Eahab the harlot " is an example. 

JRahab gave herself up for lost. " I know that 
the Lord hath given you the land," said she ; and, 
as she probably knew the reason, she must have 
been quite sure that her character and conduct 
were not such as could entitle her to hope to be 
spared. If there were any in Jericho who were 
" not so bad as others," she knew that she was not 
one of them. She was a bad woman, and she gave 
herself up for lost, and threw herself on the mercy 
of the instruments of God's wrath, and not in 
vain : what she sought she found. Just as she 
was, she appealed for salvation, and she was not 
disappointed. While others were " doing the best 
they could " to ward off the coming judgment, she 
acknowledged her inability to meet it, and trust- 



SATED BY FAITH. 167 

ing in the appointed mean? of salvation, was im- 
mediately and completely saved. 

And this is still the only way. To acknowledge 
our utter ruin, to confess the entire failure of our 
character and conduct to meet the claims of God's 
righteous law, and to cast ourselves in helplessness, 
just as we are, upon the tender mercy of God in 
Christ, is the only way of salvation. But blessed 
be God, it is a sure way of salvation, and of an 
immediate and complete salvation ; for as Eahab 
was immediately and completely saved the moment 
she took and trusted in the appointed token — though 
some time elapsed before the judgment was poured 
out and she was taken out of the scene of destruc- 
tion — so the sinner who receives and trusts in Jesus, 
the appointed Saviour, is instantly and everlast- 
ingly saved, though he may be left for a while in 
the world which is ripening for judgment. 

Is not this truth that the acknowledgment of 
guilt and ruin, the taking the place of condem- 
nation, is the indispensable, but at the same time 
the sure way to be immediately saved, taught us 
again and again in the Scriptures of truth ? 

What dues David say? " I said, I will confess 
my transgressions unto the Lord ; and Thou for- 
gcrcest the iniquity of my sin n (Ps. xxxii. o). 

What does Isaiah teach us ? No sooner does 
the cry escape from him, as he stands in the all- 
discovering li°'iit of the " Holv, holy, holy, Lord 
God Almighty, Woe is me ! for I am undone ; 



168 SAYED BY FAITH. 

because I am a man of unclean lips," than, swift 
as lightning, the flying seraphim lays a live coal 
from the altar upon his lips, and the gracious 
words are spoken, " Lo, this hath touched thy 
lips ; and thine iniquity is taken a?vay, and thy sin 
purged" (Is. vi. 5, 6, 7). 

What does the publican's prayer tell us ? Con- 
scious of nothing but that he is a sinful man, so 
conscious of it that he dares not lift up his eyes 
unto heaven, he cries, " God be merciful to me 
the sinner," * as if there were no other sinners in 
the world but himself. And the Lord's word con- 
cerning him is, " I tell you, this man went down 
to his house justified " (Luke xviii. 13, 14). 

What does the lovely picture of the returning 
prodigal tell, but that even before the words of 
confession leave his lips, as he stands there, his 
look and attitude revealing his consciousness of 
guilt, the father's arms are round his neck, and 
the father's kisses are covering his cheek, and 
telling, far more sweetly and graciously than words 
can tell, of pardon, acceptance, and restoration ? 
(Luke xv.). 

What do we learn from the high priest stand- 
ing before the Lord, the filthy garments with 
which he is clothed betraying his hopelessly sinful 
condition, and his lips, closed for very shame, 
unable to frame a single excuse? He has nothing 
to say; he is " without one plea." And then, as 

* See the Greek. 



SATED BY FAITH. 169 

he stands there, convicted and self-condemned, the 
gracious words of a pardo ning God fall upon his ear, 
" I have caused thine iniquity to pass from thee, 
and I will clothe thee with change of raiment " 
(Zech. iii.). 

What do all these say ? They do but repeat 
the blessed truth that Rahab brings before us, 
that— 

" We cannot expect to be perfectly saved 
Till we find ourselves utterly lost ; " 

and further, that "if we confess our sins, He is 
faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to 
cleanse us from all unrighteousness." Yes, it is 
only when we take the place of helpless, hopeless 
sinners, that there is room for the grace of God 
to lay hold of us. It is only the lost, the guilty, 
and the self-condemned that need, that seek, and 
that find a Saviour. 

But such do find Him, or rather, He finds them ; 
for '• He came to seek and to save that which was 
lost," and He " goeth after that which w T as lost, 
until He find it." Rahab gave herself for lost, 
and she was saved. 

She heard about and believed in God. So did 
her fellow-townsmen, but in quite a different way. 
They had heard, as we have seen, of Jehovah 
and His power, and they trembled as they heard. 
Their spirits sank at the tidings of approaching 
judgment. But there they stopped. Their faith was 
the faith of " devils," who " believe and tremble." 



170 SAVED BY FAITH. 

They quenched their convictions ; they barred 
their gates ; they trusted in their walls ; they 
resisted God and perished. 

Rahab took a different course. She had no 
greater opportunities than others. She heard 
exactly the same report that they heard ; there 
was no difference in the character of the tidings 
that reached her ears. She trembled as they did ; 
but^when a way of salvation was set before her, 
she did what they did not — she took it. She had 
nothing to trust in. " Her house was upon the town- 
wall, and she dwelt upon the wall ; " but she had 
no confidence in it, and she sought and grasped 
the means of deliverance by throwing herself 
upon the mercy of the leader of the armies of the 
Lord. While they to the last hoped to ward off 
judgment, she yielded at once. While others only 
heard and trembled, she said, " I know that Je- 
hovah hath given you the land." 

She did not stifle her convictions, and when 
two men came from Joshua, forerunners of 
the advancing host, to "view the land, even 
Jericho," to view it as those surveying a property 
which was already theirs, and as it were to claim 
possession, she received them. They "lodged" 
in her house. The men of Jericho sought to bring 
them out and slay them, but she hid them. In 
the conduct of the citizens we have seen the way 
in which the men of the world treat every claim 
that God makes upon them, every message that 



SATED BY FAITH. 171 

He sends to their hearts ; they get rid of them. 
In the conduct of Eahab we see the treatment 
which a sinner who really believes in an approach- 
ing judgment gives to the claim of God, or to any 
message which may in His providence happen to 
reach him. Such an one, conscious of guilt, and 
of deserving the wrath to come, admits the claim, 
welcomes the message, and hides it in the heart. 

This may, indeed, take place unknown to others ; 
the reception of God's Word may be studiously 
concealed from the world. Eahab had a double 
motive, perhaps, in denying that the men were in 
her house ; she may have denied it first to save 
their lives, and secondly to save her orcn. The 
desire to preserve them from ill-treatment, and the 
fear that she might be involved in their fate, 
probably alike influenced her, and prompted her to 
the deception of which she was guilty.* And so 
it often is w^hen the truth of God first finds an 
entrance into a sinner's heart. No sooner is it 
admitted than the strong man armed seeks to 

* Kahab's lie has been a difficulty to some, for they have been 
unable to understand how the conduct of one who told a deliberate 
untruth can be held up for commendation in the Scriptures. But 
it should be noticed that, whilst her faith is mentioned as an 
example for us, and her reception and concealment of the spies is 
cited as an illustration of works accompanying true faith, her lie is 
never commended. It should be further remembered that her act 
of deception was the act of a heathen, knowing as yet nothing of 
the way of holiness, though she was taking the first step in the 
way of peace. As has been well said, "When she got into the 
camp of Israel, she was doubtless taught to speak the truth. " 



172 SAVED BY FAITH. 

eradicate it, and the soul that is beginning to 
believe in God is tempted to conceal the fact, and 
even to deny that any abiding impression has been 
made, partly from the fear of the consequences 
that might ensue to itself, partly from an anxious 
desire to shield the newly-received truths from the 
rough treatment of the unbelieving world. 

But whether this be always so or not, the truth 
admitted abides, and instantly " brings forth fruit 
after its kind." Eahab began to acknowledge her 
hopeless condition, and to seek a way of salvation. 
Once the truth of God's claims is allowed entrance, 
that truth begins to work; it cannot be inopera- 
tive. It is " the Word of God which effectually 
worketh in (them) that believe." All the fruits may 
not be brought forth at once, but some must 
ensue; for "the Word of God is quick aud power- 
ful," and the seed, though it be to man's eye " the 
smallest of all seeds," must germinate and grow. 

The faith in God, if it can be so called, that 
does not lead its possessor to seek salvation must 
be a dead faith. It is one thing to repeat a creed 
with the lips, and quite another to believe with 
the heart. Numbers give a weekly or even daily 
assent with their lips to all the articles of an 
" apostles' creed," yet never believe with an 
apostle's faith. They profess that they " look for 
the resurrection of the dead, and the life of the 
world to come," but they look with closed eyes. 
" The resurrection of the dead " is the very last 



SAVED BY FAITH. 173 

tiling they would like to meet their gaze, and the 
life of this present world quite shuts out "the life 
of the world to come." They have never taken one 
reals\e\) to escape impending judgment ; they have 
never really sought salvation, or they would have 
found it. They may " profess and call them- 
selves Christians," but they have never yet been 
" led into the way of truth ; " for they have never 
cared with one moment's real desire to ask for it. 
I say real desire, for the vague hope to be saved 
and wish to go to heaven which numbers say they 
entertain, but which never leads them to turn 
their back on sin and the world, or their face to 
heaven, is no more real than Judas' professed love 
to Christ. When a sinner really wants to be saved, 
he asks for the way, and he takes it and comes 
to Christ. The jailer at Philippi really wanted 
salvation, and he got it and rejoiced. " He that 
seeketh findeth." Real faith in God leads men 
to seek salvation. 

Rahab was not content with deep convictions. 
Her feelings and impressions were not salvation; 
deep as they were, they could not save. 

Many trust to their feelings. They have been 
deeply moved under some startling sermon ; an 
appeal to their consciences has made a vivid im- 
pression ; or on the other hand, some soothing and 
comforting sensations have been experienced, or 
some novel desires after better and more lasting 
joys than the world can give have stirred their 



174 SAVED BY FAITH. 

hearts. But there they stop ; to these they recur ; 
on these they build their hopes. Oh, shifting 
sand ! The keenest feelings of sorrow, the loudest 
alarms of conscience, the most heavenly sensations 
of peace and joy, the most earnest longings after 
the things of God, form no foundation for a " sure 
and steadfast hope ! " All these are as fleeting as 
the dew, as changeable as the wind, as untrust- 
worthy as water; for they are all connected with 
self, and can afford no possible ground on which 
to build for eternity. " He that trusts in his own 
heart (or in anything that comes out of his own 
heart) is a fool." 

But it may be said, Are not these convictions, 
these desires, these joys, these feelings, the work 
of God's Spirit in the heart ? Is no reliance to be 
placed on them? No, none whatever; granted 
that they are the work of the Holy Ghost, that 
work in us is not the substitute for Christ's work 
for us. The latter, not the former, is the object 
of faith. We are not told to trust in the Holy 
Ghost, but to trust in Christ. What He has done 
for us, not what the Blessed Spirit has graciously 
wrought in us, is the ground of faith. The highest 
and the deepest spiritual experience afford no 
resting place. Christ alone is the " tried stone, 
the sure foundation;" only "he that believeth 
on Him shall never be confounded." "I turn 
from all past experience to a present offered 
Christ," said a dying clergyman, who had served 



SAVED BY FAITH. 175 

his Master long and faithfully, to those who would 
have comforted him in his last hours by recalling 
the spiritual joys of former days. Christ, not 
feelings or convictions, is the only certain ground. 
Rahab was not satisfied till she had got salvation. 
Reader, be not content; nay, you cannot be 
content till you have got Christ, for He is " the 
salvation of God." 

Rahab must have the fullest certainty. She 
could not rest until she had the certainty of sal- 
vation. " Swear unto me by the Lord," she said. 
She must have nothing short of absolute assurance; 
her safety must depend on and be connected with 
the name of Jehovah. Nothing less than this 
would do for her. A truly awakened conscience 
can never be satisfied without complete certainty. 
Many may argue that certainty is unattain- 
able ; as many more may urge that to assert 
the possession of it is presumptuous. Such souls 
have never trembled under the fear of the " wrath 
to come ; " or if their consciences have been 
momentarily pricked, they have been soothed again 
by the hope that through the mercy of God all 
will be right in the end. They have never known 
the horror of uncertainty ; buoyed up by their own 
righteousness, using the name of Christ as an 
opiate, yielding willing credence to the lie of the 
tempter, " Ye shall not surely die," the thought 
that they may, after all, perish at last, has never 
been allowed to dwell within their minds, even if 



176 SAVED BY FAITH. 

sometimes the suspicion may have crossed the 
threshold. Therefore, they are at ease. Instead 
of the absolute certainty of God's Word, they have 
satisfied themselves with the absolute ^certainty 
of their own thoughts and feelings ; and lest they 
should be shaken out of this delusive comfort, 
indignantly deny that anything surer is attainable, 
and denounce as blasphemous those who assert 
that they " know that (they) have eternal life." 

We may, indeed, say that the man who is content 
without full assurance of salvation, has never 
fathomed the depth of his own utter ruin, or weighed 
God's anger against sin. The soul that is conscious 
of its guilt, and of its entire helplessness, must 
not only seek salvation, but cannot rest until it 
knows that it is saved. Like Rahab, it must have 
" a true token," it must have the security of the 
name of the unchangeable Jehovah that it shall 
never perish. 

This Rahab obtained. The true token was given 
her in the scarlet line ; the assurance of safety was 
given to her by the spies when they pledged their 
word, in the name of the Lord, that she should be 
saved alive. True servants of Joshua and of the 
Lord, they declared the certainty of salvation to her 
who believed, and who, because she believed, took 
the way of salvation they pointed out, and placed 
all her dependence on it. 

There was a twofold token— that is, there was a 
sign between Rahab and the armies of Israel; the 



SAVED BY FAITH. 177 

scarlet line, which was the token to them of the 
house which was to be spared from destruction, and 
there was the token between the armies and Rahab, 
the oath in the name of the Lord that her salvation 
was sure. Her salvation depended on the scarlet 
line ; her assurance was the oath of the spies. 
Thus, with that scarlet line hanging down the wall 
from the window of her house, and with the solemn 
promise that she should not perish in the destruc- 
tion that was impending, she had perfect security, 
and she knew that she had it. Let us notice both 
these points, for they are all important. 

The scarlet line was appointed as the distin- 
guishing mark. Rahab did not choose or design 
it herself. It was given her for a token. So is 
the precious blood of Christ given to sinners, as 
that which in the eye of God is to distinguish them 
from a perishing world. It is the ground of their 
salvation. There are other marks, it is true. 
There is the inward mark in the heart, the seal of 
the Spirit of God, whereby they are further recog- 
nised by Him who trieth the hearts, and u knoweth 
them that are His." And there are the outward 
marks, the works of faith, and fruits of righteous- 
ness, whick are discernible by the eye of man. 
But neither the seal of God's Spirit in the heart, 
although it is a mark which is invariably impressed 
on them that trust in the blood of Christ, nor the 
fruits of holiness in the life, are the ground of sal va- 
tion. They are the " things that accompany salva- 

K 



178 SAVED BY FAITH. 

tion," not the cause of it. The only tiling that 
stood between Rahab and death was the scarlet 
line. The only thing that stood between Israel in 
Egypt and the death of the first- born, was the blood 
of the lamb. The only thing that stands between 
a sinner and the wrath of God, is the blood of 
Christ. A crucified Jesus is the only Saviour. 
The blood of the lamb in Egypt, the scarlet line at 
Jericho, were the appointed means of salvation from 
destruction then. The H precious blood of Christ " 
is the divinely appointed means of salvation now. 

And as God Himself has decreed and appointed 
that means, so no other will be of any avail. Had 
Rahab, after hearing the word of the spies, thought 
that another colour than scarlet would be more 
likely to attract attention, and hung out a blue 
or yellow or white cord, or had she either beauti- 
fied it with silver braid, or substituted a golden 
cord, such might have looked brighter, but it would 
not have been recognised. The armies of Israel 
were told to spare only the house whence the scarlet 
line was displayed. 

It might seem an insignificant thing to which to 
trust the life of a whole family. Compared with 
the broad and lofty walls, and the swords and 
shields in which the mighty men of valour around 
Rahab trusted, it was, indeed, in the eyes of men 
a mere nothing; and probably any of her neigh- 
bours who knew that she, her father, mother, and 
brethren, were placing their whole reliance for 



SAVED BY FAITH. 1 79 

safety- — should the worst come to the worst, and 
the Israelites really take the city — on a little scarlet 
cord, counted her a fool for her pains. Bat it was the 
appointed token, and the only way of salvation. 

It was a " true token " between her and the 
army of Joshua ; but only between them. No 
other eye could see it. It was invisible to the 
men of Jericho; it was outside their walls; and 
they must indeed have wondered as they noticed 
the quiet fearlessness of approaching destruction 
which doubtless characterised Rahab and her 
kindred, and perceived nothing which could pro- 
tect them any more than others. 

And so it is still. The precious blood of Christ 
Jesus Himself, the true token given by God to 
sinners, whilst everything to them that believe in 
Him, is nothing to the men of this world. There is 
" no beauty in Him that they should desire Him." 
His name indeed is mentioned; but His saving 
power is not discerned; " He is despised and re- 
jected of men." He standeth among them, but 
they know Him not. And therefore unbelieving 
mem count the calm assurance of salvation of 
those who are trusting entirely to the Lord Jesus 
Christ as concer, presumption, and folly. They 
cannot understand such a feeling as " boldness in 
the day of judgment." And why? Because they 
are trusting to their own defences, and they cannot 
help the terrible misgiving that that whereon they 
rely may fail them at the last; and they cannot 



180 SAVED BY FAITH. 

understand that the soul that is leaning wholly on 
the work of another— confiding entirely in the 
blood of Christ — His death for them — must have 
a sure ground of hope for the very reason that 
their foundation is not the shifting sand of their 
own character, works, or feelings, but the immov- 
able, immutable Jehovah Himself, the tried stone, 
" the Rock of Ages." 

Yes; the foundation of the believer's hope is a 
secret between God and his own sou! — common 
indeed to all believers, but unknown and imper- 
ceptible to the eye of sense. The world may 
despise and trample on the precious blood of 
Christ; bur, the soul that, conscious of its just 
exposure to wrath, trusts in that blood for shelter, 
sees and values nothing in the world beside Jesus 
crucified. There may have been in the houses of 
Jericho that day many a scarlet line lying un- 
thought of, unused, unvalued, while to that one 
believing household it was the secret but the true 
token of a sure salvation. 

It was the true token ; but Rahab's safety de- 
pended not on her seeing it, but on her trusting in 
it. In fact she could not see it ; it was outside, 
not inside her house. She had to hang it out and 
depend upon it, not look at it. It was the sight 
of it by others, not by Rahab, that ensured her 
salvation. Precisely as in the night of destruction 
in Egypt God said not to Israel, " When you see 
the blood," but " When / see the blood, 1 will 



SAVED BY FAITH. 181 

pass over you." It was By faith, not by sight, 
that they were saved. It was by trusting in, not 
looking at, the scarlet line that Rahab was saved. 
It is by trusting in Jesus, not by the perception of 
the senses, that the sinner is saved. 

Israel could not see the blood of atonement 
sprinkled on the mercy-sent ; they had to trust in 
it. God saw it, that was enough — 

"God looks upon the sprinkled blood, 
It is our only plea." 

Thus we are shut up to faith. The scarlet line is 
outside. Jesus stands between us and judgment. 
We trust Him, with or without feelings (they make 
lis neither more nor less secure) and we are saved. 

Rahab knew she was saved. The scarlet line was 
the token between her and Israel ; the oath was the 
token and assurance to her. Without this, as we 
have seen, she could not rest satisfied. And she 
got what she wanted — her desire was met. A full 
assurance of perfect safety was given to her, and 
the name of the great Jehovah was solemnly im- 
pressed upon the covenant between her and the 
spies. She could, therefore, be sure that her de- 
liverance was secured. Though there were several 
links in the chain, Rahab the harlot yet stood in a 
relation to the God of heaven that ensured all she 
needed. Her safety was made to depend upon the 
very name, i.e., upon the person and character of 
the God that cannot lie. Thus she knew that she 



182 SAVED BY FAITH. 

was saved. If these links held, if the chain re- 
mained unbroken, she was delivered. 

How did she know she was saved ? By the 
promise that was given her, she received the 
" witness of men." She believed what they said ; 
and if their word could be depended upon, she 
knew that she was saved. It all rested upon that, 
and upon that alone. Her own character and con- 
duct afforded no hope, and her own feelings could 
be no proof to her that salvation was hers. The 
promise in the name of the Lord was her only, 
but, at the same time, her complete security. 

And do not they who trust in Jesus know that 
they are saved ? Have they not the security of 
Jefiovah's name ? Has He not sworn by Himself 
that they shall never perish ? Has He not given 
them a promise and an oath that " by two immut- 
able things, in which it is impossible for God to 
lie, they might have a strong consolation who have 
fled for refuge to lay hold upon the hope set before 
them " ? He cannot deny Himself. " The witness 
of God is greater than the witness of men." The 
salvation of every soul that trusts in Jesus is bound 
up with the very name and character of the eternal 
God. 

It is this that is the ground of assurance. As 
Rahab said to the messengers, u According to your 
words, so be it," and was satisfied with the solemn 
pledges they had given her, so the soul of the 
believer rests, or ought to rest, with unwavering 



SAVED BY FAITH. 183 

confidence in tlie promise of the unchangeable 
God. He has declared in the most solemn and 
emphaticmnnner possible that, "whosoever trusteth 
in Jesus shall never perish/' that "he hath ever- 
lasting life," "is passed from death unto life," and 
" shall never come into condemnation." As a 
man's character depends on his truthfulness, so 
we may reverently say, the character of God is 
connected with His word; and He cannot let that 
soul perish which, relying on His promise, has fled 
to Christ for safety, without breaking that word, 
on which all things depend for continuance. 

The reply which an aged child of God gave to 
one, who, with less understanding of the ever- 
lasting covenant, asked her how it would be, if, 
after all, her soul w r as lost, was therefore a good 
one, " God would have the greatest loss," she 
replied. "How so?" was the somewhat perplexed 
reply. " Nanny might lose her soul, but God 
would lose His character, and the whole universe 
would rush into confusion," was her answer, and 
a good one too. She saw that all things depended 
on His faithfulness, and that if His word which 
was pledged to her could be broken, there was no 
security for any created thing. Yes, old Newton's 
words which have encouraged many a soul are true— 

u Rejoice, believer, in the Lord, 

Who makes your cause His own; 
The hope that rests upon His word 
Can ne'er be overthrown. 



184 SAVED BY FAITH. 

*' Though many foes beset your road, 
And feeble is your arm ; 
'Your life is hid with Christ in God,* 
Beyond the reach of harm" 

The links in the chain cannot break. In Rahab's 
case they certainly might; for the spies might 
have deceived her, or have afterwards forgotten 
their promise, or Joshua might have refused to 
endorse the pledge they had given. There the 
links were human, " of the earth, earthy," and 
they might break. But not so w r ith the greater 
salvation, of which Rahab's deliverance is but an 
illustration. In the chain which unites the believ- 
ing soul to God there is but one link, not an 
earthly, but an heavenly one, the man Christ 
Jesus, He who with one hand touches the throne 
of glory, and with the other holds in a grasp that 
neither earth nor hell can unlock, — the grasp of 
an everlasting love, and an almighty power, — the 
helpless one that trusts in Him. 

Here, then, is encouragement for every awakened 
soul, for every guilty sinner, who— conscious of sin 
and the judgment it deserves — seeks as Rahab 
sought, a way of salvation. " Salvation" is "pre- 
pared before the fnee of all people; " it is provided 
for sinners ; guilt does not exclude, for it is for 
those who are so guilty that they are lost. It is 
none but the lost who can be saved. Therefore all 
are welcome, and without any preparation but a 
bad character, may put their trust for time and 



SAVED BY FAITH. 185 

for eternity in Him who said without any reserva- 
tion whatever, " Him that cometh unto Me, I will 
in no wise cast out." Bahab was saved by faith, 
and you can be saved in no other way. She trusted 
in the means of salvation pointed out, and in the 
words of those who declared it, and she was saved. 
Doubtless her faith was accompanied by conduct 
corresponding to it, and her belief was proved by 
her works — and at this point we will look in a suc- 
ceeding chapter — but her conduct was no more con- 
ducive to her salvation than her character, her 
works stood her in no more stead than her words. 
God tells us emphatically, " By faith the harlot 
Eahab perished not." " Trust in the Lord Jesus 
Christ, and thou shalt be saved." 

Let us notice lastly for the present that she 
took the prescribed means of salvation at once. 
" She sent them away, and they departed, and she 
bound the scarlet line in the window." She lost no 
time about it; she felt there was none to lose; she 
knew nothing about the seven days that were to 
be occupied by the besieging army in marching 
round the wails; for all she knew judgment might 
fall immediately on Jericho : therefore, without a 
moment's delay, she sheltered herself under the 
only thing that was given her for a way of escape 
and as a token of salvation. Thus she evidenced 
the reality of her faith, that it was no momentary 
alarm, no superficial impression which was dis- 
sipated when the messengers departed. She could 



186 SAVED BY FAITH, 

not bear to wait for safety till the last solemn 
moment came, and till the crash of falling walls 
and the cries of perishing multitudes told that the 
wrath of God was come. That, she must have 
felt, would be but a bad time to search for a 
scarlet cord, and to bind it in the window, when 
the eyes were dimmed with terror, and the hand^ 
palsied with fear. Perhaps then no such cord 
might be found, perhaps then there might be no 
time or strength to fasten it where it could be 
seen. Therefore, without delay, as one who gave 
herself up for lost, and who really trusted in the 
appointed way of sai/ation, she bound the token 
in the window. 

Was she not wise? Would it not have been the 
height of folly to have acted otherwise ? Can you 
imagine her doing differently, and putting off even 
for an hour the only step necessary to ensure perfect 
safety ? No, you cannot. Oh, reader, when you 
tli us judge, are you condemning yourself ? Are you 
delaying to secure salvation? Are you postponing 
to some future but indefinite moment the settle- 
ment of the important question of your safety in 
the day of judgment ? It is not then that deliver- 
ance can be found. It may be found and ascer- 
tained for certain now, " for NOW is the accepted 
time, NOW is the day of salvation." Eahab was 
saved before that solemn hour came, for though 
her salvation was manifested to others then, it 



SAVED BY FAITH. 187 

-was assured to her the moment she put her trust 
in the scarlet line. 

When will you have a " more convenient season ?" 
Are you sure that you will be given a long season 
of preparation, a clear warning beforehand of the 
time when you will be called hence. And do you 
think that, putting other considerations aside, an 
hour'wben perhaps your body is racked with pain, 
and your mind, if conscious, enfeebled with illness, 
can be the best in which to settle a more impor- 
tant matter than any other which has ever engaged 
your attention. 

Are you sure that if young now you will ever be 
old, — that if busy now you will ever have a time of 
leisure, — that if in circumstances you consider un- 
favourable now, you will ever be in such as you 
will deem favourable, — that you will retain your 
faculties to the last, — that you will not die suddenly, 
— that the day of the Lord may not come before you 
are ready? You know that you cannot be sure of 
any one of these things. You know that you can 
only call the present moment your own. Then 
delay not to use it. To use the illustrations before 
us, bind the scarlet line in your window: trust in 
the blood of Christ. God has given you this mo- 
ment. He has waited for you till now ; He may 
wait no longer. As you read these pages, ponder 
these solemn truths. Lift up your heart to Him 
who boweth down His ear to hear, with the prayer 



188 SAVED BY FAITH. 

of Rahab, " Give me a true token/' and you shall 
not ask in vain. 

God lias given you a Saviour, Jesus Christ; 
trust in Him. Then, and then only, you are saved, 
and have the " true token 9 ' of the One who cannot 
lie, that you shall never perish. For "God so 
loved the world that He gave His only begotten 
Son, Jesus Christ, that WHOSOEVER believeth 
in Him should not perish, but have everlasting 
life ;" and c * he that believeth on Him is not con- 
demned." 



VIII. 

THE WORKS OF FAITH. 

"Likewise also, was not Rahab the harlot justified 
by works, when she had received the messengers, 
and had sent them out another way? " — James 
ii. 25. 

I cannot close this volume, or leave the portion 
of God's Word which has "been the subject of 
consideration, without dwelling for a short time on 
an important point connected with the history of 
Rahab, which the Holy Spirit has noticed for our 
instruction. 

We can hardly find in the Scriptures a more 
striking instance and illustration of salvation 
" by grace through faith" than that of Rahab, a 
woman of bad character, marked for destruction 
with the ungodly people among whom she dwelt. 
She could urge no plea why she should be saved 
when others justly perished; she deserved the 
judgment as much as they did ; her character was 
no better; her sins as great. Yet, while they 
perished, she was saved. 

It was not their persecution of the messengers 



190 THE WORKS OF FAITH. 

that Joshua sent or her reception of them, that 
brought destruction upon the dwellers in Jericho, 
or that entitled her to salvation ; for though her 
treatment of the spies is mentioned as part of her 
conduct, we are particularly told that it was not 
by such conduct as a u good work " that she was 
saved, but " by faith;'" " by faith the harlot 
Rahab " perished not with them that believed not. 
Their treatment of the spies was a result of 
their determined unbelief; her reception of them 
Ayas a consequence of her faith : but they were 
destroyed because of their uubelief, which was the 
root of all their sins ; she was saved by faith, 
which was the root of all her subsequent conduct. 
Yet in each case the mental condition was accom- 
panied by certain actions, which were its most 
distinct proof. 

We have further seen illustrated in her story 
the certainty of salvation to those who trust in 
the way of salvation appointed by God. In her 
case it was a scarlet line: in ours ir is the crimson 
blood of Christ; in other words, a crucified 
Saviour. As she was sheltered under and saved 
by that line, which was a token between her and 
Joshua, so are sinners who tru t in Jesus sheltered 
under and saved by His blood, who is the only 
token between them and Jehovah, and concerning 
whom the word has been declared, M When I see 
the blood, I will pass over you." And again, 
as she knew that she was safe, because she had a 



THE WORKS OF FAITH. 191 

true token from the spies — not her feelings of 
safety, bat their solemn oath— so do we, who rest 
in Jesus as a Saviour, know that we " can never 
perish," and " never come into condemnation," 
because we have the infallible, unchangeable word 
of Him who cannot lie. 

As it was no presumption in her case to believe 
what the spies told her — " the witness of men" — • 
nay, rather would have been an insult to entertain 
a doubt of their veracity, so it is no presumption 
on the part of those who trust in Jesus to take 
God at His word, and to believe that thus trusting 
they have eternal life. IL is, on the contrary, the 
gravest insult to doubt the fact of which the God 
of truth assures them ; for " the witness of God 
is greater" than " the witness of men," and the 
record which He testifieth is this, that " he that 
believeth on the Son hath everlasting life." 

And what a salvation it was ! To what a height 
of honour and giory was this poor sinful woman 
raised, when saved by the grace of God! Taken 
out of the ruin that overwhelmed all around her, 
yet accompanied by those she loved— u her father 
and her mother and her brethren and all that she 
had, all her kindred "—she was first " left without 
the camp of Israel," doubtless to undergo those 
ceremonial purifications whereby alone she could 
be qualified to take a place amid the people of 
God, and then she was brought into the camp, 
formally adopted into the families of Israel, for it 



192 THE WORKS OF FAITH. 

is written, " she dwelleth in Israel unto this 
day." 

What a marvellous change of position ! No 
longer a " child of wrath " as she had been by 
nature and practice, she was made partaker of all 
the privileges of the people of God. Once an 
[' alien from the commonwealth of Israel/' a 
c - stranger from the covenants of promise," " some- 
times far off," she was now " made nigh." To 
her and to her kindred it could be said, as to 
other Gentiles in a later day, " Now, therefore, ye 
are no more strangers and foreigners, but fellow- 
citizens with the saints, and of the household of 
God." In the words of Hannah, God had " raised 
ii]) the poor out of the dust, and lifted the beggar 
from the dunghill to set them among princes." 
Rahab and her family were a wonderful instance 
of the grace of God. 

But it did not stop there. As if God would 
show what the " exceeding riches of His grace " 
can do, and how out of the trodden-down stones of 
eavth He can fashion the brightest jewels in His 
crown of glory, yet greater honour was in store for 
Rahab. Saved from destruction, purified from her 
guilt, adopted into the family of God, she was to 
become a mother in Israel. She who had yielded 
herself a servant to sin was to bring forth fruit 
unto God, as one alive from the dead. One from 
the tribe of Judah took her to wife, and in " the 
book of the generation of Jesus Christ the Son of 



THE WORKS OF FAITH. 193 

David/' we find her name as the mother of Boaz, 
from whom sprang in three successive generations 
Obed, Jesse, David ! 

Such is still the grace of God. Here, as else- 
where, He singles out the lowest and the worst 
specimens of humanity to show conspicuously that 
badness of conduct and character are no obstacle to 
His salvation, any more than goodness of conduct 
and character are prerequisites for it: * ; Where sin 
abounded, grace did much more abound." He 
who " receiveth sinners" takes a dying thief from 
the cross straight into paradise, transforms a proud 
persecutor of the Church into the humblest but 
mightiest of apostles, makes a sinful woman of 
Samaria a preacher of Christ to a whole city, and 
brings the guilty Rahab into a position of incon- 
ceivable glory amongst His people. Truly may He 
say, " My thoughts are not your thoughts, neither 
are your ways my ways; for as the heavens are 
higher than the earth, so are my ways higher 
than your ways, and my thoughts than your 
thoughts." And as truly may we, while we wonder 
and adore that grace, say, ' ; Oh, the depth of the 
riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God ! 
how unsearchable are His judgments, and His ways 
past finding out ! " 

But while " the grace of God bringeth salva- 
tion " unto sinners, and brings them into uni n 
with Christ and with His people, it brings them out 
&£ their sins. Jesua is a Saviour who saves His 



194 THE WORKS OF FAITH. 

people' "from, -their sins; " and while that salvation 
is " not of works, lest any man should boast," 
they who are saved are " created in Christ Jesus 
unto good works, which God hath before ordained 
that (they) should walk in them." There is no 
Antinomianism in justification by faith ; it is, on 
the contrary, the only foundation on which works or 
righteousness can be built — it is the only starting- 
point for a really holy life. And while the word of 
God unsparingly rejects all so-called good works as 
affording the slightest ground of hope for salvation, 
it uncompromisingly asserts the invariable connec- 
tion between true faith and works of righteousness. 
When treating of the cause of salvation, it asserts 
the valuelessness of works ; when speaking ot 
the result of salvation, it insists on the indispensa- 
bility of works. And these two lines of argument 
are not contrary to, but the complement of, each 
other. They do not contradict, but confirm one 
another. Of one doctrine Paul is the principal 
expositor in the Epistles to the Romans and the 
Galatians ; of the other James is the determined 
upholder ; and while each is dwelling on his parti- 
cular theme, it w T ou!d almost appear as if he denied 
the truth of the other. Yet Paul is not contending 
with James, and James does not contradict Paul. 
They are not fighting with each other for particular 
doctrines, but against special errors, which attack 
the truth from different sides. They are nor fighting 
face to face, but back to back. Paul is wrestling 



THE WORKS OF FAITH. 195 

with the self-righteous Pharisee who would use 
his works as stepping-stones to heaven; James is 
striking at the deluded Antinomian who argues 
that if we are saved by faith, there is no necessity 
for good works. And thus both are " contending 
earnestly for the faith once delivered to the saints." 

And what is true of the doctrinal teaching of Paul 
and James, is also true of the illustrative teaching 
of every instance given ns in the Scriptures of saved 
sinners. In one way or another they every one show 
though it is ;; not by works of righteousness that 
we have done, but according to the mercy of 
God" that we are saved, it is in order that we may 
be ; * filled with the fruits of righteousness which are 
by Jesus Christ unto the glory and praise of God." 

It is with this object, that while in the Epistle 
to the Hebrews Bahab is adduced as an example of 
salvation by faith, in the Epistle of James her can- 
duct is referred to as proving that true faith is ac- 
companied by works ; and I would now briefly 
dwell upon two points in her conduct as related 
in the Scriptures, which strikingly confirm the 
latter truth. Her faith was accompanied and 
proved by works ; in other words, she was ^'justi- 
fied by works ; " this is seen in her kindness to the 
people of God, and in her efforts for the salvation 
of others. 

In her treatment of the people of God. She 
'•' received the spies with peace." This is specially 
caeutjuonediu the. Epistle to the Hebrews, in .con- 



196 THE WORKS OF FAITH. 

nection with the fact that she was sated by faith. 
It was not her receiving the spies with peace 
tli at saved her, for we are expressly told that it 
was " by faith" that "the harlot Rahab per- 
ished not." She could not be saved by faith and 
works ; it must be by either one or the other, not 
by both. For if salvation be of works then " grace 
is no more grace." But if it be of grace then 
" work is no more work." Her salvation was by 
faith, that it might be of grace, and therefore her 
works, £.*?;., her actions — the reception of the spies 
— had nothing to do with her salvation, as aground 
or cause of it. 

Yet they are mentioned in connection with it, 
because they resulted from it and proved it. Her 
works were the evidence of her faith, but she was 
saved by the faith, not by the evidence of it. Faith 
was the root, works were the fruit. It was because 
she believed, really believed in coming judgment, 
really trusted to God for mercy, that she acted as 
she did, and treated the spies with kindness. 
Thus her works were the " things that accompany 
salvation;" and if she had not acted as she did, 
her profession of faith would have been belied; 
it would have been a mere profession without any 
reality. 

It was to show that where real faith exists, it 
will prove itself by " works," that James refers 
when he says, " Was not Abraham our father jus- 
tified by works, when he had ofierad. Isaac hi& son, 



THE WORKS OF FAITH. 197 

upon the altar?" (James ii. 21). There were pro- 
fessing Christians in his day whose profession was 
an empty one ; people who talked about justifica- 
tion by faith, but who only talked about it; persons 
who believed there was " one God," but whose 
faith went no further. Such faith lie told them 
was a dead faith, being ''without works," it was 
like a body without a spirit: it was merely the 
faith of devils, who " also believe and tremble." 
These people had " a power of godliness," but they 
were " denying the power thereof." They u pro- 
fessed that they knew God, but in works they 
denied Him." He, therefore, adduces two instances 
from the Scriptures, one from the top of the social 
scale, the other from the bottom — one the father 
of the faithful, the other the harlot Itahab, both of 
whom were "justified by faith," to show that their 
justification by jak/iwm accompanied by justifica- 
tion bj r works, and that thus the completeness, 
reality, thoroughness of their faith was proved — in 
other words, " faith was made perfect." 

Not that it was imperfect, or incomplete before. 
In the sight of God Abraham's faith was true and 
perfect in that night when, called to believe that 
his seed should be as the stars of heaven on which 
he gazed for multitude, — he took God at His 
word, and " against hope, believed in hope, giving 
glory to God/' Then and there "lie believed God; " 
then and there " it was accounted unto him for 
righteousness." He was then justified — saved by 



198 THE WORKS OF FAITH. 

faith; and when Paul is arguing against those 
who sought to stablish their own righteousness by 
their own works, he brings forward the case of 
Abraham as that of one who was saved not by 
works but by faith, and he makes no mention of 
his works at all. 

When, howevefr, James would show that works 
of righteousness do accompany living faith, he 
also refers to Abraham, and says, " Was not 
Abraham our father justified by works, when he 
had offered Isaac his son upon the altar?" But 
it is very evident that though his works — namely, 
his sacrifice of Isaac — proved his faith to be real, 
they did not justify him before God, since we find 
that the offering up of his son took place several 
years subsequent to the time when it was said that 
his faith was imputed to him for righteousness. 
He was perfectly justified in the sight of God, 
when, through faith, he was accounted righteous. 
That was a complete transaction. The subsequent 
sacrifice of Isaac was an outward sign and proof of 
faith; and thus " faith wrought with his works, 
and by works was faith made perfect." 

So it was with Rahab. She was saved by faith ; 
her reception of the spies, and her treatment of 
them, proved her faith. Had she been destitute of 
faith, her house would have been as closed to the 
spies as the rest of Jericho. But because she 
believed in coming judgment, and in the power of 
Jehovah, the God of Israel, therefore she received 



THE WORKS OF FAITH. 199 

them "with pence," instead of seeking to slay 
them, and "sent them out another way," when the 
King of Jericho endeavoured to apprehend them. 
She behaved with kindness to the servants of the 
Lord, because she trusted in their Master. 

Abraham's sacrifice of Isaac, and Rahab's treat- 
ment of the spies, exhibit two main points in which 
the faith of those who trust in Jesus is manifested 
and u made perfect ;" and without which their faith 
would be but an empty name, since "faith with- 
out works is dead." One direction in which real 
trust in God is manifested, is by surrendering to 
Him that which we hold most precious, our Isaacs, 
ourselves. The believer receives salvation from 
God, and then gives himself to God. Having 
trusted in Jesus, and thus become a recipient of 
" the mercies of God," the proper consequence is 
the presentation of his body (himself* to God as a 
living sacrifice. This is real self-denial, the fruit 
of true faith, and therefore its manifestation, and 
its complement. 

Where this does not follow, faith does not have 
its u perfect work ; " there is an incompleteness itl 
the life and experience of such an one; he does not 
"prove (i.e., experience) the good and acceptable 
and perfect will of God." It was when Abraham, 
who had been justified long before, offered up his 
son Isaac, that he received a second edition of the 
promise, and that it was confirmed by an oath to 
him. Had he failed to surrender his son-— in fact, 



200 THE WORKS OF FAITH. 

to surrender himself — he would not have been less 
justified, for that was an antecedent fact which 
could not be undone, but he would have come 
short of the fulness of the experience of blessing, 
and he would not have been called "the Friend of 
God" (James ii. 23). 

That this may be the result in all the children 
of God, is the object of the apostle's exhortation in 
the sixth and twelfth chapters of the Epistle to the 
Romans, where after dwelling on, and enforcing 
the fulness and freeness of salvation without the 
deeds of the law, he urges on those who are saved, 
and thus " alive from the dead," that they should 
" yield themselves unto God." 

Another direction in which real trust in God is 
manifested is, as in the case of Rahab, by the 
hearty reception and love of God's people. This is 
dwelt on at length in the Epistle of James, where 
the treatment of the brethren is almost, it may be 
said, the main subject (see especially chap. ii. 15, 
16). And it is again a prominent subject in the 
First Epistle of Johu, who instances love to God's 
people as a great proof of the existence of spiritual 
life, for he says (1st John iii. 14) " We know that 
we have passed from death unto life, because we 
love the brethren : he that loveth not his brother 
abideth in death." In Paul's Epistles it comes 
forward continually, as, for instance, when he 
praises God for his Colossian converts, he men- 
tions " faith in Christ Jesus, and love to all the 



THE WORKS OF FAITH. 201 

saints," as Hie tilings which led him to give 
thanks for them. 

And is it not the actual experience of every one 
who really trusts in Jesus that he loves others who 
trust in Him. He realises an attraction towards 
them which is new and mysterious. Once he 
hated and fled from them ; the society of decided 
Christians was obnoxious and unpleasant; the 
presence and conversation of anybody and every- 
body was preferable to that of the followers of the 
Lamb. Their language was "cant," their manners 
"methodistical," their ways "strait-laced and hypo- 
critical." But now he is involuntarily drawn to 
them. Though he mny not like all equally, and 
though there may be in many of them, especially 
in the uneducated, ways and manners and habits of 
expression that are not exactly what he naturally 
fancies, he is conscious that he cannot help loving 
them. He feels that they have been washed in the 
same blood, renewed by the same Spirit, adopted 
into the same family, — that they have "one Lord, 
one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of 
all," — that they have common dangers, common 
enemies, a common mercy- seat, and a common 
home, and he cannot but love them as brethren in 
Christ. Language, colour, caste, all lose their 
distinction in that body where "there is neither 
Greek nor Jew, circumcision nor uncircumcision, 
Barbarian, Seythiau, bond nor free, but Christ ail 
and in all." 



202 THE WORKS OF FAITH. 

Yes ! this is one great evidence of faith, one great 
proof of the possession of eternal life : c ' We love the 
brethren." They may ;be kings or beggars, naturally 
attractive or unattractive. They may differ from us 
in a thousand things — in views of Church govern- 
ment, in many points of doctrine, in politics, in 
almost everything, but if they agree in this, that 
they trust in, love, and serve the Lord Jesus 
Christ, they are our brethren here, they will be our 
brethren in eternity, and we cannot help loving 
them. 

This love will differ doubtless in intensity as 
much as persons differ from each other; it may be 
fostered in some, and be checked in others. Many 
things may hinder its expression; in some, it may 
accord to some extent with a natural temperament 
and flow forth easily: with others it may have to 
battle with habitual reserve and coldness, and may 
manifest itself with difficulty. But it will, it must, 
exist in all ; for V every one that loveth Him that 
begat, loveth him also that is begotten of Him," 
and u He that loveth not bis brother abideth in 
death ; " " By this shall all men know that ye are 
my disciples, if ye have love one to another" (John 
xiii. 35). This attraction to, and love for, God's 
people is generally one of the first proofs of a new 
life. No sooner does the persecutor of the Church 
come to Jerusalem, after receiving the forgiveness 
of his sins, than " he assays to join himself to 
the disciples," The moment Lydia's heart is 



THE WORKS OF FAITH. 203 

opened to "believe in Jesus, she opens her house to 
the preachers of the gospel ; and " that same 
night " that the jailer rejoices, believing in God, 
lie takes those whom he had thrust into the inner 
prison, " washes their stripes, brings them into his 
house, and sets meat before them." 

Such then are the works, or outward signs, 
which prove the existence and reality of an inward 
faith. As Rahab's faith evidenced itself by her 
reception of the spies, because they were the ser- 
vants of Joshua, and thus she was "justified 
by works,'' so does the love to all saints con- 
stitute the outward and visible sign of that inward 
and spiritual faith whereby we are saved. Justified 
by faith before God, we are justified by Works be- 
fore men. 

But there was further proof of the realitv of faith 
in Rahab. She was concerned for the salvation of 
others. Pier first thought was for the welfare of those 
near and dear to her. Her entreaty was " show kind- 
ness to my father's house .;" " save alive my father, 
and my mother, and my brethren, and my sisters, 
and ail that they have." This poor harlot had 
those whom she loved. Perhaps they had cast her 
off when she fell ; and her purer sisters may have 
despised her, when she disgraced the family. Or 
perhaps their standard of morality was no better 
than hers, and they all together lived lives of 
flagrant sin. Be that as it may, no sooner did she 
espy even a chance of salvation for herself, than she 



204 THE WORKS OF FAITH. 

longed for others to share it. If they were fallen 
as low as she was, her natural instinct of love sur- 
vived -the fall, and she could nor bear to be saved 
alone, while they perished ; or if she was indeed 
abandoned by her kindred, as one worse than her 
neighbours, she knew that they as well as she 
stood exposed to the fall so soon to overtake the 
whole city, and she determined to do all she could 
to rescue them. 

Was not this another fruit of faith? Had she 
not truly believed she would not have acted thus. 
And not only did she pray for their salvation, she 
made efforts to bring them into the enjoyment of 
it. It would appear that they did not live with 
her, and this would rather lead to the conclusion 
that she had fallen below their level. But they 
must share the despised one's In me, if they would 
be saved, they must stand in the same place, and 
trust in the same way of salvation. They must 
come into her house. " Thou shalt bring thy father, 
and thy mother, and thy brethren, and all thy 
father's household home with thee." 

Can we not imagine the scene ? They were pro- 
bably like the rest of Jericho, self-confident, though 
once alarmed. Rahab must have gone to their 
houses, have imparted to them her deep conviction 
that all resistance, all reliance on the walls was 
useless, and have told them of the little scarlet 
line, that was to ensure salvation, and the certainty 
of that salvation in consequence of the oaths of the 



THE WOli&S OF tfAITtf. 205 

spies. How strange must have been the interview, 
the conversation, the improbability of her tale, the 
earnestness of her entreaties, the gradual yielding 
of her relatives, and at last the consent to leave 
their homes, aud to betake themselves to the 
despised one's house. On this we need not dwell 
her object was attained; she persuaded them to 
trust in the appointed and only way of salvation ; 
and she had the joy, on that day, when judgment 
fell on Jericho, of seeing all whom she loved and 
cared for partakers of salvation, fur c * Joshua 
saved Rahab the harlot alive, and her father's 
household, and all that she had." She was the 
happy instrument of the deliverance of her kindred. 
Thus again was her faith proved by works. 

And this is al>o one of the very first directions 
in which the faith of the sinner, who has found a 
Saviour, manifests itself. Saved himself, he is at 
once moved with concern for others ; he cannot 
bear to see them perish. Prayer to God for them, 
personal efforts to draw them unto Jesus, the only 
place of safety, are the earliest things to succeed 
his own salvation. There is no effort in it : ir is 
natural : it is the spontaneous working of that 
lower feeling that God has implanted in the 
human heart, the love of kith and kin, ennobled 
by a heavenly impulse, the life and love of God. 
Aud just as it is natural for one who has heard 
good news, found a treasure, received a gift, to 
communicate it to and shar-e it with others ; so is it 



206 THE WORKS OF FAITH. 

the first and instinctive desire of the soul that has 
believed the good news of salvation, found a Saviour, 
and received pardon, to tell it out to those near 
and dear. 

What was the first action of Andrew, Simon 
Peter's brother, when hearing the Baptist pointing 
to Jesus as " The Lamb of God/' he follows, sees 
where he dwells, and learns of salvation from the 
Saviour's own lips? u He first firuleth his own 
brother Simon, and saith unto him we have found 
the Messias, which is, being interpreted, the Christ. 
And he brought him to Jesus " (John i. 35-42). 
And what does Philip do the next day, as soon as 
Jesus had " found" him? "Phili >findethNathanael, 
and saith unto him, We have found Him of whom 
Moses in the law, ami the prophets, did write, Jesus 
of Nazareth, the son of Joseph " (John i. 45). And 
how does the woman of Samaria behave (so like in 
character, or at least in calling, to Rahab), when she 
had heard the marvellous words of Him that sat 
beside her at the well, " I that speak unto thee 
am He." " The woman then left her water-pot, and 
went her way into the city, and saith to the men, 
Come, see a man which told me all things that ever 
I did; is not this the Christ?" (John iv. 28, 29). 

Instances might be multiplied, but the fact is 
clear— borne witness to in the pnges of Scripture, 
and in the experience of almost all who have been 
brought to trust in Jesus as a Saviour — aconcern for 
the salvation of others, and specially of " those oi 



THE WORKS .OF FAITH. 207 

their own house," is the first impulse of the saved ; 
and there is hardly a clearer proof of the reality of 
our own faith than the desire and effort to make 
others partakers of it. 

This is one of the ways in which a God of wis- 
dom makes the circumstances of nature subservient 
to His purposes of grace. He has not set us in 
families, instead of leaving us as units in the world, 
merely for social convenience or temporal advan- 
tage. He has not implanted in the heart of husband 
and wife, parent and child, brother and sister, the 
deep, strong, all overpowering principle of love, only 
to cheer our earthly homes, and gladden the short 
pathway of life below. It is that hearts that beat 
with the love which, after all, is but -of the earth 
earthy," should by that very love be impelled to 
make those who are the objects of it, partakers of 
" the love thatpasseth knowledge," and " the peace 
thatpasseth all understanding." 

Listen to that father of ancient days as there 
bursts from his lips the deep desire of his heart 
for his then only son, " Oh that Ishmael might 
live before Thee." Look at that prophet, greatest 
of all types of Christ, as he cries concerning his 
beloved Israel, u Forgive their sin, and if not, blot 
me out of Thy book which Thou hast written." 
And note again the outpouring of the mighty heart 
of the great apostle, as he says, " I say the truth 
in Christ, I lie not, my conscience also bearing 
me _ witness in the Holy Ghost, that I have great 



208 THE WORKg OF FAITH. 

heaviness and continual sorrow hi my heart. For 
I could wish that myself weie accursed from Christ 
for my brethren, my kinsmen according to the 
flesh" (Rom. ix. 1, 2, 3): and as he further 
exolaims, " Brethren, my heart's desire and prayer 
to G< d for Israel is, that they might be saved ■"" 
(Rom. x. 1). 

What was the great, the burning desire of Abra- 
ham, of Moses, of Paul ? It was that those they 
loved might be saved. And did not the Lord 
Himself consecrate this natural desire when He 
fcaid to the healed madman of Gadara, " Go home 
to thy friends, and tell them how great things the 
Lord hath done for thee, and Hath had compassion 
on thee " (Mark v. 19). Yes, surely; He takes one 
in this family and one in that, a Rahab here, a 
Lydia there, a jailer at this time, and a Stephanas 
at another, not only to exhibit His sovereignty, but 
that they may be instruments in His hand for 
bringing all that are in their house to the know- 
ledge of Him, thus manifesting their own faith, 
exercising the gifts that He has given them, and 
communicating to other hearts the rivers of living 
water that have flowed into their own, not to stay 
there and become stagnant, but to roll onward, 
fertilising the wilderness and the barren places 
till they blossom as the rose. 

And thus this desire and effort for the salvation 
of others becomes a great proof of the reality of 
cue's own faith* If we surely believe that the ship is- 



THE WORKS OF FAITH. 209 

sinking, that the house is burning, that terrible 
disease is raging in our midst, we shall instantly 
and almost unconsciously seek to rescue others, 
and specially those whom we love, who are in 
danger. It will be impossible for us to sit idly 
by, with closed lips and folded hands, when a cry 
or an effort may be the means of saving perishing 
ones around us. Most certainly that man's faith 
must be a dead faith who has no desire to make 
others share in the glorious blessings which he 
professes to have received. He who has found 
deliverance from the wrath to come through the 
precious blood of Christ, and who trusts in the in- 
fallible word of the God of truth for eternal sal- 
vation, who sees the certainty of the rapidly 
approaching " end of the ungodly/' and the glo- 
rious simplicity of the way of life, must have a 
burning desire to lead others to the same Saviour 
who has rescued him, and will assuredly, in one 
way or another, make an effort to pluck out of the 
fire those who are ready to perish. 

And now, how shall we leave this subject and 
close this volume ? We have traced some of the 
characteristics of the life and warfare of faith, we 
have beheld the awful picture of the irreversible 
ruin of those a who know not God, and obey not 
the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ ; " and as we 
have again pondered upon one of the most striking 
illustrations of the salvation of lost sinners that 
the Word of God affords, we have seen how the 

o 



210 THE WORKS OF FAITH. 

heart that has tasted the grace of God for itself 
instinctively and immediately prays and works 
for the salvation of others. Can we close with a 
more enkindling and solemnising subject ? 

" We know that is the last time" While it is 
true that of that day and of that hour knoweth no 
man, the signs that are thickening around us are 
surely such as to make us who " see these things 
come to pass, look up and lift up (our) heads, for 
(our) redemption draweth nigh." In the delibe- 
rate judgment of many, of men of prayer and 
sober thought, the events that are taking place, 
— not discerned, it is true, in their connection 
with the development of the purposes of God by 
the men of this world, — are as the precursors of 
His advent, who " cometh with clouds," and who, 
when He comes to receive His own blood-bought 
people to Himself, conies also to execute judgment 
on a world that still says, " We will not have this 
man to reign over us." 

Already, it is believed by many, has the sixth 
day passed, the sixth circuit been made, the sixth 
trumpet been sounded. The world continues the 
same ; business and pleasure, self and sin, still hold 
almost undisputed sway; the feeble efforts of the 
little band of the followers of Christ have wrought 
no great deliverance, "the inhabitants of the world 
have not fallen;" Christianity is considered by its 
philosophers and mighty men obsolete and effete; 
the blasts of the trumpets of rams' horns have 



THE WORKS OF FAITH. 211 

almost ceased to attract attention; bat, " in the 
days of the voice of the seventh angel, when he 
shall begin to sound, the mystery of God shall be 
finished, as He hath declared to His servants the 
prophets." Soon — it may be very soon — " the 
trumpet shall sound," there shall be " great voices 
in heaven;" the voice shall be heard u as it were 
the voice of a great multitude, and as the voice of 
many waters, and as the voice of mighty thunder- 
ings, saying, Alleluia, for the Lord God omnipo- 
tent reigneth." " Then shall the end come." 

Many already hear the midnight cry, " Behold, 
the bridegroom cometh, go ye out to meet him," 
and are rising and trimming their lamps. But the 
door is not yet shut. There is still a moment, no man 
knows how quickly it may close, in which to warn 
the perishing, to point them to Christ, and " compel 
them to come in." We still have the unspeakable 
privilege of telling those around us of a place of 
safety, of a " true token," of a way of escape. 
While some may scoff at our preaching, and others 
may rely upon what seems to them a better way, 
some will hearken ; we cannot labour in vain ; God 
will bless His Word until the moment when the 
number of His elect is accomplished, and His 
kingdom comes. 

Let us, then, be faithful to our trust; " instant 
in season and out of season," knowing that the 
time is short, and that " the night, cometh when 
no man can work." There are still some to be 



212 THE WORKS OF FAITH. 

gathered in ; they are close to us; our own kindred 
and neighbours are yet perishing for lack of know- 
ledge ; we can deliver to them the message, that 
" whosoever belie veth in Jesus shall receive the 
remission of sins;" we can tell them that He who 
saved the harlot Rahab has saved us, and will save 
them, if they will but trust in Him. 

Let not the fear of man's frown, or the love 
of man's praise, chain our tongues or paralyse 
our hands. Our labour shall not, cannot, be in 
vain in the Lord ; and, oh, what joy unspeakable 
will it be when, amid the flames of a burning world 
and the glories of an opening heaven, we see among 
the redeemed of the Lord the " father," the 
" mother," the " brethren," the " sisters " of our 
earthly homes, and realise that, through the message 
God enabled us to give to them, they are saved 
with an everlasting salvation, to enjoy with us 
those " pleasures for evermore" that are at His 
right hand ! 

God grant, for Jesus Christ's sake, that you who 
have now read these pages may know what it is 
to be yourself saved through His most precious 
blood, and then make known to others the riches 
of His grace. Amen. 



THE END. 



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